On the heels of this morning’s A330-200F announcement in Mobile, AL, I had an opportunity to sit down with Airbus North America Chairman Allan McArtor and Chairman and CEO of EADS North America, Ralph Crosby. We discussed a number of topics during the phone interview on both the commercial and defense fronts.

I started off with a question about potential growth in Mobile that went beyond just the A330 Freighter. Airbus is targeting 10 A330/A340 a month coming off the line by 2009 or 2010. In addition, they’ve said they also want 13 A350s per month in Toulouse by 2015. The last piece here is that Airbus has also said that they the A330 is a complimentary aircraft in the widebody offering and they, are going to continue producing the popular twin at the same time as the A330. The long preface, brought me to this question, is there enough room at Toulouse to assemble both the A330 and A350 at the pace Airbus wants, and if not, would the A330 passenger model end up on a final assembly line in Mobile?

McArtor felt it was an, “Interesting theory and…it was always possible.” He agreed that, “there would need to be additional capacity created for the A350 and long range A330/A340…and that [Airbus] hasn’t tried looking into it yet.”

I then asked about the status of negotiations with General Electric about bringing a second engine offering to the A350. This has been a sticking point for potential A350/787 customer Air France/KLM which requires all its aircraft to be powered by General Electric engines.

Mr. McArtor, started by saying, “We’re disappointed that GE hasn’t joined the program yet.” Adding, “We’re confident that issues are being worked through. It hasn’t happened yet, but we believe it will.”

When asked if the discussions were being held for a power plant for all variants or just the -800 and -900, Mr. McArtor confirmed that, “We’re looking at supplying an engine for all variants.”

From the most unlikely of sources:

Boeing set to begin assembly of new 777 freighters
Shipping Digest
Monday, January 14, 2008

Boeing plans to begin assembly of its new 777 freighter on Jan. 29 at its plant in Everett, Wash.

The first 777 freighters are to be delivered to launch customer Air France in the fourth quarter. As of late December, Boeing had sold 82 of the new all-cargo aircraft to 11 customers. Those orders account for more than 20 percent of the current backlog for 777s.

The new freighter will have a revenue payload capability of more than 103 metric tons. The main cargo deck door of the 777 freighter can facilitate easy direct-transfer shipments with the 747 freighter fleet, which provides about half of the world’s freighter capacity.

Image Courtesy The Boeing Company

Airbus is bringing A330 Freighter assembly to Mobile, but only if they get the tanker. This story broke on Friday when it was first reported by George Talbot of the Mobile Press Register. The on-going battle between Airbus and Boeing ratchets up another notch with this new development from EADS and Airbus.

There are important questions that come along with this, mainly, what happens if Northrop Grumman and EADS don’t get (at least part) of the contract? With the A350 coming down the line, there is a finite amount of production capacity in Toulouse. Airbus says that the A330 is a complimentary product to the A350 and the production equation has to balance out eventually. This has the potential to soften the Euro-Zone pain Airbus and EADS have been enduring, so A330F production may be coming to the US after all if the tanker goes to Boeing.

Much more on this as the day progresses.

Image Courtesy Airbus SAS

Airbus A330 Freighters to be Assembled at Mobile, Alabama Facility

Mobile, Alabama; Arlington, Virginia, January 14, 2008 – EADS will co-locate the production of the Northrop Grumman KC-30 Tanker platform and the Airbus A330 civilian freighter aircraft at its Mobile, Alabama aerospace center of excellence, resulting in a robust final assembly line that ensures low risk, high efficiency and increased capacity for both military and commercial customers.

This decision – which is dependent on U.S. Air Force selection of Northrop Grumman’s KC-30 Tanker as its new aerial refueling platform – will further leverage EADS’ investment in its future Alabama facility, located on Mobile’s Brookley Field, and significantly increase its industrial presence in the U.S. market.

Both the KC-30 Tanker and A330 commercial freighter are based on the best-selling, industry-favored Airbus A330 twin-engine jetliner. Co-locating production of these aircraft will add to the efficiency of the Mobile assembly facility, and ensure a smooth and continuing production flow. It will enable EADS to provide its customers more flexibility in the assignment of final assembly slots at Brookley Field for the military aerial refueling platform or the civilian freighter, depending on demand. The site would be expanded to support the production of up to four aircraft per month, ensuring ready capacity to meet the Air Force’s delivery requirements at no risk, while fulfilling the A330 Freighter’s growing order book which is already at 66 aircraft.

As promised, the 2nd edition week in review. All your comments fell on receptive ears and I thank you all for your feedback. Again, this is very much a beta test experiment, so bear with me.

Enjoy.

Script, as requested, after the jump.

According to sources in Everett, internal schedules show the overall assembly calendar for Boeing’s Dreamliner One around three weeks behind the revised schedule, Flightblogger has learned. To make up time, Boeing has shifted significant manpower resources to achieve the aircraft power on milestone by month’s end. Work in Building 40-26 is almost exclusively focused on meeting this target on time.

The slippage can be attributed at least partially to on going part shortages and the ramp up of the over 30,000 part supply chain that drives the 787 Dreamliner program.

Boeing was repeatedly approached for comment but had not responded by press time.

787 Program Manager Pat Shanahan identified power on as a critical goal at Boeing’s December 11th Conference Call update:

“I’m focused on this milestone for two main reasons. First, power on is a significant knowledge point technically because we can then retire risk around the integration of the airplane. And second, our schedule becomes much more predictable once we get the power on because the airplane is finally in the state that our factory was designed for.”

A slow Tuesday in preparation for a busy Wednesday.

Came across these on YouTube. Rough clips from the upcoming Legends of Flight IMAX film.

Even more below the fold.

Happy Monday!

I’m trying something totally new to kick off 2008 and I wanted to share it with all of you.

As you may remember, I had been doing week ending discussion threads about all the week’s big stories. I felt it was time to take that idea one step farther. Below is the first FlightBlogger Aviation Industry week in review video.

It recaps a few of the big stories for the first week of 2008. If all goes well and the response is positive, I’ll be doing this every week. It should hopefully be published every Friday. I wanted to get this one out much sooner when I finished it on Saturday, but my blog was giving me some trouble and this is my first chance to post it.

Ultimately, I am requesting your feedback. What do you think? What do you want to see? Is this something I should do regularly? Is it helpful for keeping up with the industry?

Thanks for watching!

The final tally:

Boeing Sets Third Consecutive Record for Commercial Airplane Orders in 2007

* 1,413 net orders (1,423 gross) surpasses 1,044 net orders reached in 2006
* Record orders for 787 Dreamliner
* Record orders for 737 program
* Record orders for Boeing freighters

SEATTLE, Jan. 03, 2008 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] recorded 1,413 net commercial airplane orders during 2007, reaching more than 1,000 orders for an unprecedented third consecutive year, and setting a Boeing record for total orders in a single year.

Boeing also set new order records for the 787 Dreamliner, the 737, and for Boeing freighters.

The 2007 total surpasses the previous Boeing records of 1,044 net orders in 2006 and the 1,002 orders set in 2005. Gross orders in 2007, which exclude cancellations and conversions, totaled 1,423. Boeing recorded 1,050 gross orders in 2006 and 1,029 gross orders in 2005. Unfilled orders for Boeing Commercial Airplanes is now over 3,400 airplanes.

“It has been another strong year for commercial aviation, and we are grateful for our customers’ trust in our team, and our products and services,” said Scott Carson, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and chief executive officer. “We deeply appreciate the role we play in our customers’ plans for growth and success, and we are focused on meeting our commitments.

All eyes turn to Airbus.

MSN014, the first A380 for QANTAS, will be making its maiden flight on or around January 14th from Toulouse to Hamburg for interior fitting and wiring rework. The aircraft, which is currently registered as F-WWSK will enter service with QANTAS as VH-OQA in October of 2008 connecting Los Angeles to Melbourne. This will be the 12th A380 to fly.

MSN007, the promotional A380 that is registered as as F-WWJB is now at XFW being fitted with the interior for Etihad. Delivery to Etihad is not anticipated until 2013. The aircraft joins F-WWSH (MSN011 – Emirates) and F-WWSB (MSN005 – Singapore) in Hamburg. The second A380 for Singapore should be delivered early this month.

See the complete production update.

Boeing confirms that the 100 order aircraft that was first placed at the 2007 Dubai Air Show by the newly formed Dubai Aerospace Enterprise will be added to the total Boeing order book for 2007 not 2008. The impact of this order, which adds to firmed orders from QANTAS, British Airways, Jeju Air and Vietnam Airlines potentially puts Boeing over Airbus in orders for the first time since 2002.

Update 3 – 6:58 PM: Boeing and GOL have announced the completion of an order for 40 737-800 for the airline’s fleet modernization. Boeing has announced that this order will be included in its Order and Delivery total for 2007. This pushes the order total near 1400 for Boeing.

Update 4 – 7:20 PM: The order battle continues. Airbus still has 293 orders outstanding for 2007. 100 for DAE, 8 for Cathay, 25 for Air Asia and 160 for Chinese Carriers.

Update 5 – 7:28 PM: Small mathematical error. QANTAS was counted in the original 1213, so the current total stands at 1394. Which, for the record, is still incredibly impressive.

The unofficially tally stands as 1304 for Airbus and 1394 for Boeing.

1213 as of December 18, 2007
+5 Jeju
+24 British Airways
+12 Vietnam Airlines
+100 DAE
+40 GOL
1394 TOTAL

Update 2: The final 2007 tally will be announced Thursday morning on the Orders and Deliveries page.

Press Releases Below the Fold