To sum up Farnborough 2016 for the commercial airplane sales (Airbus & Boeing only), we saw 461 planes ordered worth a total of some $61.8 Billion dollars. It is also wise, to give you an idea of the sales history involved. In 2014 the total aircraft sales for the year (not just at an air show) was worth some 1,444 new aircraft, and this was a peak. By 2015, the total yearly aircraft sales had dropped some 36%! So, the question will be: At the end of 2016, what will be the total new aircraft sales numbers for this year? New aircraft delivery backlog is at its all time high (12,000 aircraft), so layoff’s are not a focus yet, but the sales number at the end of 2016 will be interesting especially if the market for travel drops, after all, orders can be cancelled.

Summarizing, here is how the new aircraft sales breakout went: Airbus outsold Boeing by some 100 aircraft. Interestingly, The Wall Street Journal reported that Boeing had just 20 new firm orders and not one B777 was to be found amongst them. Back in October, 2015, Bloomberg noted: “As planes come off lease it may get tougher for Boeing to generate fresh sales of current-generation 777s, one of its biggest sources of profit, said George Ferguson, senior air transport analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. While the backlog for the twinjet extends to 2018, the successor 777X, with new engines and a larger wing, won’t begin deliveries until 2020, leaving the manufacturing line in Seattle potentially vulnerable.” We now wonder if production line rates will be an issue if sales are not found.

Airbus – Total 279 aircraft orders worth $35B based on list price, while the approximate value is around $15B. Furthermore, of those announcements 197 planes were firm aircraft sales – worth $26.3B, and 82 committed aircraft – worth $8.7B. We note that Airbus included a deal that was announced last year for 62 planes.

Boeing – Total 182 aircraft orders worth $26.8B based on list price. Among these, only 20 were firm new orders (last year that number was some 100 planes higher). We also note that roughly 42 planes were already on the books but there were 100 provisional deal in the works.

We also received an input from another airline news source, Airline Weekly – Jason Cottrell/Jason Shabat and they responded to the Boeing 36% drop in aircraft sales at this year’s Farnborough and they noted: “… it’s clearly a much slower market than it was a few years ago and that probably won’t change anytime soon. However the backlogs are so giant that it might not be any big catastrophe for the manufacturers. The big thing I watch is if the Gulf carriers start canceling widebody orders. That would be a financial disaster.”

Continuing on, future airplane forecasts are usually interesting, and this year is no different:

BOEING forecasts demand for 39,620 new commercial aircraft (2,380 regional; 28,140 single-aisle; 8,570 wide-bodies; 530 VLAs), including 930 freighters, worth $5.9T in 2016-2035 (up 4.1% from last year’s Current Market Outlook). All this is based on 4.8% annual passenger traffic growth.

AIRBUS forecasts demand for 33,070 new >100-seat aircraft (23,530 narrow-bodies; 8,060 wide-bodies; 1,480 Very Large Aircraft), including 645 new freighters, worth $5.2T in 2016-2035 (up 1.5% vs last year’s forecast). All this is based on 4.5% annual passenger traffic growth.

Lastly, Airbus has just one thing to say to Boeing, and boy is this video classy – it will catch you by surprise! One thing to say to Boeing – YouTube

---

IFEC NEWS

Panasonic:
China Eastern commits to an 84 aircraft deal with Panasonic and the agreement includes production aircraft and extensive retrofit program for global broadband connectivity service. The leading Chinese carrier, which, in partnership with China Telecom Satellite, was the first to offer broadband Wi-Fi connectivity on flights over Chinese airspace, and this agreement strengthens its long-term relationship with Panasonic. The extended agreement – following the announcement of 20 Boeing 777-300ERs last November – includes 35 line-fit aircraft with and an extensive retrofit program covering an additional 49 aircraft. (READ MORE)

Thales:
Thales booked orders for its AVANT IFE system from Gulf Air for 39 787-9s, A320neos and A321neos on order for delivery starting in 2018, and from Japan Airlines for retro t on 11 777-200s. (This is the first retro fit order for the AVANT system).

Telefonix PDT:
Telefonix PDT has announced that their Cabin IFE equipment has been tested and certified for use in China.

Rockwell Collins:
Rockwell Collins today was named by Airbus as its top supplier in the Supplier-Furnished Equipment (SFE) category and received an Excellent In-Service Performance award. The company was honored at a special ceremony at the Farnborough Airshow. Out of 41 suppliers rated in the SFE category, Rockwell Collins topped the list at No. 1. (READ MORE)

Boeing/Google:
Bet You Didn’t Know This: The Folks at Boeing and Google have a new technology that combines the maddening work of building wiring harnesses (charts, drawings, data sheets, pin diagrams etc.) with a device on your head that shows “what goes where”. Why is this a big deal? Here is a better description of the pilot program: “During the pilot, when a participant showed up for work she’d first visit a lockbox to check out a Glass unit, and then go to her computer to login and authenticate the device on the network, according to DeStories. For authentication, the tech would put on the smartglasses and scan a QR code generated by the system on her computer, which then pushed the wire harness app to the smartglasses. Next, the tech would head to her work station on the assembly floor, grab the next “shop order,” and then scan another QR code on the box of components, which provided necessary status updates or notes and told her where to get started, DeStories says.” Do you see any application to IFEC… like harness building, onboard installation and testing, etc? Google Glass takes flight at Boeing | Network World

Astronics:
Astronics Test Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ: ATRO), today announced the availability of a new Frequency Time Interval Counter (FTIC) in collaboration with National Instruments Corporation (NASDAQ: NATI) (“NI”). The new Astronics PXIe-2461 is a high-performance, two channel, universal 235 MHz frequency interval counter. It is the first product developed from Astronics’ collaboration with NI, announced in November 2015, to revitalize legacy aerospace and defense test systems. (Read More)

Inmarsat:
Inmarsat has received type approval from the Government of the People’s Republic of China for its IsatPhone 2 technology, making it the only international operator legally eligible to sell handheld satellite phones in the country. (Read More)

Lufthansa Systems:
Napster has taken over the skies as the first music streaming service in Germany! Streaming services are enjoying increasingly more popularity, whether at home, on the way to work, at the gym or on vacation at the beach. To enjoy the diverse range of music in the air, Napster and Lufthansa Systems have formed a strategic partnership. Through Lufthansa System’s BoardConnect, Napster will offer passengers selected playlists and audiobooks for adults and children, making traveling more enjoyable and entertaining. By this summer, Napster and Lufthansa Systems together want to equip the first airline with the service, Eurowings. (Read More)

Sapphire Innovation:
Research shows lack of cash-flow transparency means airlines are being too cautious notes Sapphire Innovation. Over ninety percent of airlines know cash-flow forecasting and working capital optimization are priorities for their organization, according to recent research by Sapphire Innovation. Despite that, over 70 percent don’t have an effective cash-flow forecasting solution in place. Paul Smith Eldridge, General Manager and President of Sapphire Innovation, said, “This survey shows the huge disconnect between airlines recognizing that predictive cash-flow forecasting is a business enabler, and actually having an effective solution in place. Sapphire Innovation’s survey, carried out among 39 global carriers, also identified that nearly half of airlines continue to rely almost entirely on spreadsheets to predict cash-flow, which is highly inefficient.” (Read More)

---

OTHER STUFF

Amazon Video now lets you download video’s and TV directly to Android SD cards – for your next flight, of course, take a pocket full of SD cards! Amazon Video now lets you download movies and TV straight to Android SD cards | The Verge

Itasca, IL | January 26, 2015– January 26, 2015 – Gogo Inc. (NASDAQ: GOGO), a leading global aero communications service provider, announced today that it’s on track for record aircraft installs in 2015. The company now has a backlog of well more than 1,000 commercial aircraft, more than half of which are expected to be installed in 2015. With the large backlog in commercial aviation and the company’s current trends in business aviation, Gogo expects to install a record number of aircraft in 2015. Recently announced domestic regional jet installs and certain international fleet wins are expected to make up the bulk of the installs for 2015.

Gogo expects to bring 500 additional commercial aircraft online by the end of this year, which would bring the total number of commercial aircraft equipped with its connectivity service to more than 2600. Of the new installs, around 25 percent are expected to be international aircraft.

In addition to new installs, Gogo continues to upgrade previously-installed ATG systems to its next generation ATG-4 technology, which triples peak speeds to the aircraft and brings more capacity to the sky. More than a third of the aircraft on which ATG was installed have been upgraded to ATG-4. Gogo expects close to half the commercial fleet operating in the U.S., or more than 1,000 aircraft, to be upgraded to the newer technology by the end of 2015.

“Operationally, what the talented group at Gogo has accomplished and is set to accomplish in 2015 is unprecedented in this industry and continues to amaze me,” said Gogo’s president and CEO, Michael Small. “Between installing new service and upgrading our original ATG service to ATG-4, our installation team expects to touch 1,000 aircraft in various parts of the world in 2015. We are excited about where we are going in terms of bringing new aircraft online and adding significantly more capacity to the network.”

In addition to the ATG-4 roll-out, Gogo is on track to launch its global satellite solution – 2Ku – in the second half of 2015. 2Ku is expected to bring peak speeds of more than 70 Mbps to an aircraft, a 20 fold increase when compared to Gogo’s original ATG technology.

“2Ku will bring significantly more bandwidth at what we estimate will be half the costs of competing solutions available in the market today,” added Small. “We believe this technology is transformative for global aviation in terms of Internet speeds, capacity, coverage, costs and reliability.”