FlightGlobal reports that JetBlue Airways “expects six of its Airbus A321neos to be grounded by Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engine problems by year-end – and for that number to rise in 2024.” JetBlue CFO Ursula Hurley said, “We’ll end next year with a high single-digits, low double-digits number of aircraft on the ground.” During its October 31 quarterly earnings call, the carrier “described how it stands to be affected by P&W’s recall of PW1100G geared turbofan (GTF) engines due to disk problems, which has caused broad fleet disruptions among A320 operators.” JetBlue currently “has 25 A321neos in service and four in storage, according to Cirium fleets data.” The majority of GTF engines “on JetBlue’s aircraft were manufactured post-2021, meaning that they were made outside of the production run of engines that currently need inspection.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)
Tag: predicts
AerCap CEO Says Airlines Could Deal with Supply Chain Issues for Years
Reuters reports AerCap CEO Aengus Kelly says that airlines could face plane, engine, and parts shortages for several years as they try to catch up to a sharp increase in air travel demand, with the CEO predicting the persistence of the supply chain pressure well into the second half of this decade.
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Air Taxis Will Start Commercial Flights in 2025, Honeywell Predicts
Bloomberg reports that Honeywell’s head of aerospace business, Mike Madsen, said that he sees the first eVTOL air taxis beginning operation in 2025, but not being fully embraced by the industry until closer to the end of this decade.
Full Story (Bloomberg – subscription publication)
Airbus Predicts Demand for 39,000 New Airliners by 2040
Aviation Week reported that Airbus forecasted that some “39,000 new airliners will be needed worldwide over the next 20 years.” Airbus “believes there will be demand by 2040 for around 29,700 small aircraft like the Airbus A220, A320 family or Boeing 737 MAX, and for about 5,300 medium-sized aircraft like the Airbus A321XLR, A330neo or Boeing 787-8,” in addition to demand for about 4,000 large aircraft “like the Airbus A350 or Boeing 787-10 and 777X.” Airbus also expects “to see demand for 880 new freighters.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
U.S. Space Force Forecasts 25% Increase in Launches in Next Two Years
Aviation Week reports, “The U.S. Space Force anticipates launches from its two continental spaceports to increase by 25% to 30% over the next couple of years, continuing a trend as greater numbers of military, civil and commercial payloads are being sent into space. The service has supported a steady growth in its launch cadence and does not see it slowing down in the near future.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)