Paris
PUBLICATIONS
Monday 6.17.13
Airshow News
TM
www.ainonline.com
Boeing says it wants no part of a price war
Airbus’s A350 XWB touches down on the Toulouse runway after its initial test flight last Friday. The Roll-Royce Trent-powered airliner flew for about four hours on its maiden journey.
Boeing harbors no interest in getting into a so-called price war with Airbus, Boing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO Ray Conner insisted during a roundtable discussion with journalists yesterday in Paris. But when pressed for a reaction to Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier’s recent comments about his ambitions to attract more than 50 percent of the widebody market, Conner eagerly answered the challenge. “I would say the same thing,” quipped Conner. “So it’s going to be fun. We look forward to it.” Although Conner acknowledged that airlines will benefit from the existence of competing product lines in the widebody market, he stressed that price won’t play as big a part in winning campaigns as would bringing to market a better product. “I Continued on page 4 u
VLADIMIR KARNOZOV
by Gregory Polek
Newest Airbus makes pre-Paris first flight by Charles Alcock Airbus began the 2,500-hour flighttest program for its new A350 XWB when the new long-range widebody took off for the first time at almost exactly 10:00 a.m. local time in Toulouse, France on Friday. The eagerly awaited first flight over southwestern France lasted slightly more than four hours and the twinjet,
powered by Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB engines, safely touched down back in Toulouse at 2:05 p.m. The first-flight aircraft (registered as F-WXWB) is one of five A350s that will be used in a test program that should see the new A350-900 version enter service with Qatar Airways in the second half of
2014. On board was a team of six, with the cockpit occupied by Airbus chief test pilot Peter Chandler, A350 XWB project pilot Guy Magrin and project test flight engineer Pascal Verneau. Working at test stations in the main aircraft cabin were Fernando Alonso, head of Airbus’s flight
Continued on page 4 u
Stealth Neuron is almost on display
MARK WAGNER
by Chris Pocock
The bubble-wrapped public “showing” of the Neuron unmanned combat aerial vehicle on the Dassault static display ensures the stealthy aircraft lives up to its name.
The pan-European Neuron UCAV is making its public debut here outside Hall 2 here as part of the Dassault Aviation static display. But you could easily miss it. For security reasons, the stealthy, arrow-shaped drone has been enclosed in a dome, with the only public view being through a clear plastic curtain. Dassault is lead contractor, and France the lead country, for the six-nation technology demonstration project. The other participants are Greece (HAI); Italy (Alenia); Spain (EADS-CASA);
Defense
The Art of Flying
Insurance
Funding Shortfall Risk
Art Deco Icon Reopens
A lack of money to support the many European aerospace manufacturers threatens to put industrial capacities at risk, according to the Future Air Systems for Europe study, commissioned by the European Defence Agency. Page 16
The Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget, located in the former passenger terminal, reopened on June 3, showing off the restored building’s famed “Salle des Huit Colonnes” (“Hall of the Eight Pillars”). Page 34
Sweden (Saab); and Switzerland (Ruag). The Neuron made its first flight at Istres in southern France on December 1, 2012. It made a second flight from there before being dismantled and moved to the French DGA’s test facility near Rennes for ground measurements of its radar cross-section. These have produced encouraging results, according to a source at Dassault. After the show, more ground and flight tests will follow, in France, Italy and Sweden. o
Leasing
Manufacturers
Prices and Risk Remain Low
Big Order for New Jets
Russian Trio Set To Soar
Aviation insurance coverage and pricing remains subject to a buyer’s market, due to fewer airline accidents, lower overall insurance claims, the state of the economy, more underwriters entering the market and improved safety and aircraft. Page 53
Ilyushin Finance Company has signed agreements to purchase 50 Irkut MC-21s, 32 Bombardier CSeries and 20 Sukhoi Superjet 100s, and at some point in the future may consider adding the Airbus A350 XWB to its portfolio. Page 55
Three iconic Russian aircraft are flying during this year’s Paris Air Show flight demonstrations, the Sukhoi Su-35S Flanker, the Yak-130 combat trainer jet and the coaxial-rotor Kamov Ka-52 helicopter. Page 85