Sanad grows engine alliances with GE and Emirates

The 2019 Dubai Air Show has seen some significant news from local and regional players in maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO). For instance from Sanad Aerotech, which announced deals with General Electric/CFM and Emirates.

Sanad Aerotech, until this May known as Turbine Services & Solutions Aerospace, is a Abu Dhabi-based wholly-owned company from Mubadala Investment Company which also owns…

Thoughts on the sunset of the A380

Across the media space, there are numerous articles about the demise of the A380.  After only 12 years of service, the program will no longer be taking orders.  For those who called the A380 the “Whalejet” and other disparaging remarks, there is a sense of vindication for having called it right.

As is always the case, the story is much more nuanced.  We offer some thoughts on the program and…

Emirates, the A380 and the next engine selection

Emirates is currently negotiating with Rolls-Royce for its next batch of A380s.  Bloomberg had a report yesterday on the latest development that the airline and Rolls-Royce have hit a “snag” in their negotiations.  The report further mentions potential delivery delays and the possibility that the deal may be canceled.

Our view is that the deal is possibly at an impasse.

As a reminder, when the…

Updating the A380 – What Might an Engine Improvement and Sharklets Provide?

Aircraft and engine manufacturers spend considerably to continuously improve their products after they enter service.  Virtually every aircraft and every engine have several performance improvement campaigns during their life cycle. Typically, about every five to ten years, OEMs bundle aerodynamic and engine upgrades to provide an improvement in efficiency.

We’ve seen a number of retrofits in…

How vulnerable is Rolls-Royce?

Yesterday the FT published an interesting story about how the UK is concerned with Rolls-Royce.  The company has come under pressure with missing its numbers.  Today came news that two senior managers are leaving the firm.

Yesterday the FT also mentioned that P&W and Siemens are seen as potential bidders to take over the firm.  We had considered the possibility of P&W doing this some while ago.

E…

What if Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney overcame their history?

Aerospace is a big business but it is an industry increasingly consolidated. Big business yes, but a shrinking industry for sure.

The recent July deal by UTC to sell its Sikorsky helicopterunit to Lockheed Martin for $9bn is an example of how the huge parts and pieces need to shift around to extract value. UTC says it will use the funds for share repurchases. But what about instead making an…

Another busy day.  But a number of key visits and interviews. Also more pictures on our Facebook page.

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Wednesday’s story on engines attracted a lot of attention.  And some good comments – so we went back to our data to see what more we could pull out of it.  This is what we found. (more…)