Recently in Singapore Air Show 2008 Category

SINGAPORE -- Bombardier's board has authorized the company to offer its 110-130 seat CSeries family aircraft to potential customers.

Top launch customer candidates include Northwest Airlines, Qatar Airways, ILFC and Lufthansa.

The authority to offer is an important step towards official launch of the aircraft program.

FlightBlogger spoke with Bombardier representatives this morning, and at the time the Canadian company refused to speculate on a report suggesting the board was just hours away from making its decision to authorize the company to offer the new family of aircraft.

The company has said it will seek firm commitments from customers before seeking launch approval.

Filed Wirelessly

UPDATE 9:44 AM 2/23: Potential launch customer comments (FULL RELEASE):

"Lufthansa's focus is on a sustainable fleet development providing flexibility for the future. This includes, amongst others, the assessment of technology, reliability, environmental footprint, economics and passenger comfort. We are considering the CSeries family of aircraft in our broader evaluation of opportunities for the lower end of the single-aisle fleet because its proposed advantages could be attractive to us," said Nico Buchholz, Senior Vice-President, Corporate Fleet, Lufthansa.

"The CSeries aircraft's 2013 entry into service date suits us very well. We envisage an order for 20 aircraft," said Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Airways.

"We are very interested in the aircraft and have been looking at the CSeries program very carefully," said Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, Chairman and CEO/Founder of the giant lessor company International Lease Finance Corporation. "ILFC is not only considering buying the aircraft, we could become a co-launch customer. However, other major airlines need to sign up to the program as well. We would like to see a North American, European and possibly Asian customer," he added.

I recorded at bleary-eyed podcast this morning with Addison and I apologize if I ramble. The show has been quite slow on it's last day before it opens to the public tomorrow. However, a lot has gone on with this blog over the last 24 hours.

Bloomberg News has confirmed with Boeing that, "Some of the resources from the 787-3 have been temporarily redeployed.'' A revelation that originated from the story first published here yesterday.

Also, the Udvar-Hazy Interview got quite a bit of pickup in Seattle:

Top Boeing customer questions future of short-range 787 version
Seattle Times
By Dominic Gates

Push is on for a midrange Dreamliner
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By James Wallace

Lastly:

BOC Aviation orders 5 Airbus A330 freighters
ATR sells 1 ATR 72-500 plane to Lao Airlines
Lufthansa Systems launches new flight planning module promising fuel savings

Chaser:
This is the sign immediately on the outside of the flight deck door on A380 MSN001. Too good not to share. More on the tour later.

This story broke overnight here in Singapore. This could be the major step toward launch. All indications point to the seriousness of Bombardier to move forward with the product. The buzz around the P&W; geared turbo fan engine is the real story of SA2008. I am talking to Bombardier later this morning about the CSeries, so there may be more on this as the day develops. Stay tuned.

SINGAPORE AIR SHOW Bombardier to take step towards launching CSeries jets

SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Bombardier Inc will take a significant step towards launching its long-awaited CSeries of larger airliners later this week, according to an aerospace industry source.

The board of the Canadian regional aircraft maker is expected to make a formal 'authorisation to offer' decision on the CSeries at a meeting on Friday, the source told Thomson Financial News at the Singapore Air Show.

The decision would mean Bombardier can put the proposals for the jet out to the market, paving the way for a formal decision to launch the 2.1 bln usd programme in time to meet a planned entry-into-service date of 2013.

UPDATE 1:33 PM: I had an opportunity to speak with representatives from Bombardier this morning. They would confirm nor deny anything about a potential board meeting for launch approval. They refused to comment on "speculation" about the launch of the CSeries. They added that in the event of a launch, it would be done as a larger announcement, not a trickling out of news.

SINGAPORE -- Boeing is considering suspending work on the -3 shorthaul variant of its troubled 787 twinjet as it fights to get production of the long-range -8 lead version and development of the -9 stretch back on track.

A 787 programme source says the delay in development of the -3, “May be a precursor for cancellation. Regardless, we're stopping work on it.”

The source adds that the short range -3, “being developed simultaneously with the -9…was really stretching the company's resources. This will free up people to work on the much more popular -9 variant.”

The -3, so far ordered only by 787 launch customer All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines (JAL), had originally been due to enter service in 2010, a few months ahead of the -9.

“We have been informed that there is a possibility of a delay to the 787-3,” says JAL. “We have not received a new delivery schedule since the delays to the programme were announced. Obviously the 787-3 is important to our plans. It has a shorter wingspan, which is important at key airports in Japan.”

Boeing is drawing up a new delivery schedule for all 787 customers in the wake of production delays which have pushed the aircraft’s first flight back to mid-2008. The manufacturer says it expects to announce its plans at the end of the first quarter and is unable to comment on any possible resequencing of the variants before then.

“We are working through delivery schedules with our suppliers,” says Boeing marketing vice president Randy Tinseth. “We won’t get the plans done until the end of the first quarter.”

On the future of the -3 variant, Tinseth says: “We have a commitment to ANA and JAL to build that airplane.”

Good morning again from Singapore! I'm writing on site at the Air Show right now and things are definitively slower today. As promised, here's the video tour of the Piaggio P.180 Avanti II.

Here's a rundown of the the last day:

Pratt & Whitney pushes GP7000 as alternative A350 XWB engine
Boeing bullish on biofuels ahead of Virgin demo flight
Jetscape buys 10 Embraer jets in $1.13 bln deal
Airbus says on track for aircraft production programs
Airbus completes first in-flight fuel cell test
Pratt favours IAE offering for next-generation narrowbodies
Also: ILFC says it is 'seriously looking' at the GTF-powered Bombardier CSeries

And a podcast wrap up with Addison Schonland.

Steven Udvar-Hazy, President and CEO of the International Lease Finance Corporation spoke to FlightBlogger this morning in a wide-ranging interview, and revealed that Boeing is exploring development on a new mid-range 787 derivative.

Mr. Hazy revealed to FlightBlogger that Boeing is exploring “very exciting” derivations of its hot-selling Dreamliner to, “…address more of the medium-haul and short-haul end of the market.”

Mr. Hazy elaborated:

It would be, “another version of the 787 that is lighter, that addresses more the performance capabilities at a different, at more the medium haul end of the market. That might be a more practical product line that will have a wider application with more customers than the -3 and we’re encouraging Boeing to come up with a 787 derivative to address that middle market which has wide global appeal to airlines in North America, European airlines, Middle East, China and South America and intra-Asia and US trans-con market and so forth. The dash three doesn’t quite do it. It seems too heavy.”

“I think the Boeing engineering and product team is totally focused on the 787-8 and -9 and also getting the 747-8 intercontinental airplane into production and get it certified both the passenger and freighter. With the weight creep on the 787-9 there’s some real issues that have arisen, for example the landing gear, we have to have to be at a different landing gear configuration on the -10. The wing will have to be beefed up so your creating more weight, which means more thrust which then gets the situation into a regime with Rolls Royce and GE where the original GENx design and the Trent design for the 787 was not intended to be at those thrust levels as to what’s required at the -10. I think Boeing is carefully looking at the -10, but I think it’s slipped in terms of its priority.”

Listen to the complete interview here.

Much more with Steven Udvar-Hazy below the fold

Singapore -- Airbus Chief Salesman John Leahy hinted at the development of an ultra-long range A350 XWB with the -900 variant as the platform for such expansion.

The new product would be designated the A350-900R and likely replace the A340-500 in the Airbus product line.

The aircraft would be the fifth member in the XWB family. The -900R would potentially be available following certification and entry into service of the A350-1000 and Freighter models in the second half of the next decade.

The announcement came this morning at the Airbus press conference.

More on this, including audio of the answer to the ultra long range aircraft question which was posed by this blogger on location.

UPDATE 1:08 PM: Listen to the audio of the question.

Filed Wirelessly

Good morning once again from Singapore. My internal clock is slowly figuring out which part of the world it's in and I wanted to give a small overview of what went on yesterday. You can keep track of all the goings on during the day at this main Singapore Air Show site that Flightglobal.com is running which pools everything including photos, videos, news stories and my blog posts.

Garuda orders four 777-300ERs, seven 737-800s, and converted orders for 18 737-700s to -800s and six 777-200ERs to -300ERs
Lion Air orders 56 more 737-900ER, total ordered: 179
Fuel pump glitch grounds Singapore Airlines A380
Korean Air orders three more A380s
EgyptAir orders six more E-170s
Bombardier hopes for CSeries launch this year
Eclipse breaks into India with very light jet deal
New engine architectures needed to meet airline demands: CFM

Also, check out my first article for Flight International Magazine:
Second 787 could overtake first as production progresses
By Jon Ostrower

While exploring the static display here in Singapore a Piaggio P.180 Avanti II (HB-LTZ) caught my eye. A video tour of the aircraft will be available soon.

Here's a peek into the stunning Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 glass cockpit inside.

Image Courtesy Piaggio

Many MANY more below the fold.