View the Maintenance Directory

A380 completed 52 flights and accumulated a total of 178 hr. as of July 29, according to VP-Marketing Colin Stuart. Speaking to the Aero Club in Washington Friday, Stuart reiterated that Airbus needs to sell 250 aircraft "plus or minus 10%" for the program to achieve breakeven. The company has targeted 700 aircraft sales out of a total market in the size class for 1,250 aircraft. "So there is room for Boeing," he joked.

Continental Airlines placed an order with Boeing for two additional 777-200ERs for its international expansion. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2007 and Continental said Boeing agreed to provide backstop financing. Currently, the airline operates 18 777-200ERs in a two-class, 283-seat configuration.

Integration teams representing General Electric, Airbus and Goodrich have defined the "key interfaces" between the GEnx engine and the A350 inlet, nacelle and thrust reverser, GE said yesterday. The team also has been engaged in defining the engine mounts, gearbox concepts and engine pneumatic bleed and electrical systems. "In freezing the initial product definition and launching the GEnx engine, we have essentially established the performance parameters for the GEnx engine on the A350," said program GM Tom Brisken.

Rockwell Collins entered into an agreement with Czech Airlines to provide its WXR-2100 MultiScan Hazard Weather Detection System and Airshow 4200 moving map and inflight information product for 12 A320s. The agreement also calls for an option on 12 additional aircraft with deliveries scheduled to begin in March 2006.

GECAS said it reached agreement to lease one A320 and three A319s to United Eagle Airlines of China. GECAS said the A320 is already in service with the Chengdu-based carrier, which launched operations this week (ATWOnline, July 27). The three A319s will be delivered later this year.

Although Boeing recorded double-digit revenue growth in both its Integrated Defense Systems and Commercial Airplanes segments for the second quarter ended June 30, special items pushed net income down 6.8% to $566 million from $607 million in the year-ago period.

China Eastern Airlines took delivery of the 2,500th A320 family aircraft in Toulouse yesterday. The airline already operates a fleet of 69 of the A320 family and this year will receive an additional 20. Deliveries of the type have soared from 1,000 to 2,500 in the past six years and the production rate is being increased to 30 a month from the first quarter of 2006. The A320, the first of the four-member family, entered into service in April 1988 and pioneered the fly-by-wire flight control system in commercial aircraft.