Leeham News and Analysis
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When does Boom go boom; military goes green and loses the battle
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By Scott Hamilton
Feb. 23, 2026, © Leeham News: “How long until Boom goes boom?”
“eVTOLs, the perfectly mediocre over-priced helicopter.”
“We lost the battle, but we had a more urban footprint.”
These are just a few of the pithy comments to come out of the annual Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance (PNAA) conference this month in suburban Seattle.
Boom, the 88-passenger supersonic transport program, was founded in December 2014. Ten years later, it flew a demonstrator aircraft that bears no similarities to the Overture SST that the company is developing as the first passenger SST airliner since the Concorde.
The Boom Overture SST has many, many skeptics. Two were speakers at the annual conference of the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance. Credit: Boom.
No established engine maker agreed to power the Overture. Rolls-Royce had an exploratory contract for a time, but bowed out. Boom cobbled together three companies to make an engine. More recently, the company is going to use the engine, whenever it works, to power energy plants.
There are few believers in aerospace who think Boom will be successful, despite raising a reported $600m-plus in funding, building a production facility and winning conditional orders from Japan, United and American airlines.
Richard Aboulafia, a managing director of Aerodynamic Advisory, said he would just “write off” Boom. Kevin Michaels, also an MD at the same consultancy, was just as direct. “We have a bet in our office going how long until Boom goes boom?”
They were no more kind toward the prospect of eVTOLs, especially the possibility of the US military using battery-powered eVTOLs on the battlefield.
Open Forum, Week of Feb. 23
LNA’s Comments Open Forum allows Readers opportunities to comment about any post (note, we said “Post”, not any “Topic”). All comments will be held for review and Moderation per our new policy. The Open Forum enables Readers to Comment on paywall articles (to the extent the paywall preview is open to all readers).
Maintain civility and follow Reader Comment rules.
A new Open Forum will be posted weekly.
Bjorn’s Corner: Faster aircraft development. Part 28. Development times.
By Bjorn Fehrm and Henry Tam
February 20, 2026, ©. Leeham News: We have, since August 2025, gone through an FAA CFR 14 Part 25 development project of an airliner in the 200-seat class. The aim was to identify the activities required for such a project and the regulatory actions needed to achieve Type Certification (TC) and Production Certification (OC) for the aircraft.
The program followed the time plan in Figure 1, which indicated that it would take about seven years from the start of conceptual design to deliver the first aircraft and enter service (EIS). At each phase, we assessed whether modern support techniques, such as AI, could help with development and certification and whether they would accelerate the program plan.
Figure 1. A typical Program Plan for a smooth-running Part 25 airliner development. Source: Leeham Co.
We now summarize the findings and incorporate additional modern support, such as Digital Twin support, to assess the overall impact of today’s technologies on the program plan timeline in Figure 1. Read more
Airbus FY2025: Not happy with Pratt & Whitney
By Karl Sinclair
Feb. 19, 2026, © Leeham News: The normally reserved Airbus (AB) CEO Guillaume Faury had some strong words for engine-maker Pratt & Whitney (P&W), at the annual video conference reporting results for the 2025 financial year.
Airbus is ready to “enforce contractual rights” with regard to the engines being supplied to the airframe maker from P&W (corporate speak for “You’ll be hearing from our lawyers”), in an effort to meet delivery requirements.
The issue is centered around the resources that Pratt is deploying to remedy the problems caused by powdered metal coating contamination misstep, which is hampering production of both the A320neo and the A220 families.
According to Airbus, the engine-maker has focused more effort on addressing in-service fleet issues, while eschewing its responsibility to provide engines to the aircraft OEM for deliveries.
This is hindering Airbus’s efforts to increase production as it seeks to meet its commitments to airlines and lessors.
“On the A320 family, the continued failure to commit to the number of engines ordered by Airbus is negatively impacting this year’s guidance and the ramp-up trajectory for this year. As a consequence, we now expect to reach the rate of between 70 and 75 aircraft a month by the end of 2027, stabilizing at a rate of 75 thereafter,” said Faury.
Whether this is simply sabre-rattling to force P&W to increase production by publicly calling them out is unclear.
Faury elaborated further in the earnings call, “Pratt & Whitney has resigned from the orders we had placed, and they had accepted for the volumes in 2026. We have to base our guidance on what they tell us now they’re willing to commit and deliver. We’ll continue to work hard to enforce our contractual rights, which we believe are not respected in that case…We are not happy with the outcome, but that’s what it is today.”
These are choice words in an industry where airframe and engine makers work closely together to meet their customers’ needs.
Airbus leans toward launching “A220-500”, but faces challenges
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By Bjorn Fehrm and Scott Hamilton
Feb. 19, 2026, © Leeham News: Airbus appears likely to launch the long-discussed stretched version of the A220-300, nominally called the -500, as early as the Farnborough Air Show in July.
Figure 1. This illustration, created years ago by Leeham News, shows the concept of a “simple stretch” for the “A220-500.” This illustration does not include some aerodynamic improvements LNA believes are necessary. Airbus is already planning a high-density version of the A220-300. Credit: Leeham News.
Lars Wagner, the new CEO of Airbus Commercial Airplanes, told Reuters in January that he favors the new aircraft, which would seat 165 passengers in single class configuration. Wagner assumed the position on Jan. 1. His predecessor, Christian Scherer, had long favored the stretch.
Wagner didn’t provide Reuters with any details about the new airplane. But Scherer told LNA last year that the debate within Airbus was whether to pursue a “simple” stretch or one with a larger wing and more powerful engines. A simple stretch trades range for capacity. Scherer told LNA that customers told Airbus they were more interested in capacity than range.
Figure 2: The ranges of the A220-300 and the proposed A220-500, using airline rules and calculated by LNA’s Aircraft Performance and Cost Model (APCM). Air France (CDG) and Delta Air Lines (ATL) have expressed interest in a stretched A220-300. Credit: Leeham News.
LNA confirms that a simple stretch is the preferred option. However, this does not mean that Airbus won’t tweak aerodynamics to improve operating and take-off performance and maintain as much range as possible. LNA has a good understanding of the likelihood of these tweaks and of the current proposed configuration of the A220-500. Using our proprietary Aircraft Performance and Cost Model (APCM), the -500 should have a range about 13% lower than the -300.
LNA’s APCM analysis is based on today’s information. The data is subject to final details when Airbus completes the design freeze.
Here’s our analysis.
Privatizing Air Traffic Control: Why Canada’s Success Story Won’t Work Here
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By Vincent Bianco III
Opinion Contributor
Feb. 16, 2026, © Leeham News: Every now and then, calls to privatize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or Air Traffic Control (ATC) emerge.
Vincent Bianco III.
Calls to privatize the FAA emerged after revelations about FAA oversight of The Boeing Co.’s 737 MAX certification came to light following the 2018 and 2019 fatal crashes that killed 346 people.
Following the January 2025 mid-air collision between an American Eagle regional jet and a military helicopter near Washington Reagan National Airport, calls once again to drastically revamp the FAA and/or privatize the ATC system emerged.
Some pointed to the privatization of Canada’s or Europe’s air traffic control systems as examples to follow. These calls also raise legitimate frustrations about government shutdowns disrupting air travel. As someone who spent the last 35 years inside (and alongside) the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO), I understand the urgency when the system breaks down.
But the solution—abolishing the FAA and creating “competing private certifiers”—betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes aviation safety work.
Let’s start with what these calls get right: Government shutdowns do create unnecessary vulnerability. User-fee funding models do provide more stable revenue. And yes, the 737 MAX disaster exposed serious problems with regulatory capture at the FAA.
Now let’s talk about what is catastrophically wrong.
Read more
Safran hails ‘outstanding’ 2025; prepares for Airbus ramp-up
By Tom Batchelor. Feb. 13, 2026, © Leeham News:
Safran enjoyed an “outstanding” 2025 with a record number of LEAP engine deliveries, a thriving aftermarket and significant growth across its defense activities, CEO Olivier Andriès said on Friday as he announced the French aerospace group’s full year results.
Describing its “all-time high financial performance,” Andriès noted that Safran had delivered more than 1,800 LEAP engines, up 28% versus 2024, and 49% higher year-on-year in Q4 – and said the aviation, defense and space group was preparing to meet Airbus’ targeted production capability of 75 A320 Family aircraft per month in 2027.
For the full-year period ended December 31, 2025, revenue stood at €31.33 billion ($37.14 billion), with a recurring operating income of €5.2 billion and free cash flow of €3.92 billion.
This compares with revenue of €27.32 billion (up by 14.7%), recurring operating income of €4.12 billion (a 26.2% year-on-year increase) and free cash flow of €3.12 billion in 2024. Safran’s operating margin stood at 16.6% of revenue, up from 15.1% in 2024.
Bjorn’s Corner: Faster aircraft development. Part 27. Where Speed-Up gets Tough.
By Bjorn Fehrm and Henry Tam.
February 13, 2026, ©. Leeham News: We are summarizing how modern tools, processes, and AI can help reduce the time required to develop a clean-sheet 200-seat replacement for the Airbus A321neo and the Boeing 737 MAX 10.
We discussed some ideas in the last article on how current AI can support development. We could see it helping reduce the time spent on templating documents and on designing and verifying simple parts, such as mounting brackets for pipes and cables.
To address the more challenging parts where AI struggles to assist, we need to understand why development programs now take longer than in the past and what can be done to shorten the timeline.
Spain becomes fourth country to join Aero Excellence initiative to improve supply chain
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By Charlotte Bailey
Feb. 12, 2026, © Leeham News, Hamburg: The European supply chain support strategy aims to streamline self-assessment and resilience.
Spain is to become the fourth country to join the European Aero Excellence International initiative, a multi-national program intended to help suppliers self-assess their own maturity levels and work towards building greater operational resilience. The announcement was made in December at the Hamburg Aviation Forum.
The relatively new scheme builds on a program first launched by the French Aerospace Industries Association (GIFAS) in 2023 and was co-developed by respective national aerospace and defense associations. These include Germany’s BDLI and the UK’s ADS Group. A representative from each trade association is joined on Aero Excellence’s board by three national industrial members.
Under Aero Excellence, participating suppliers (categorized across five areas) are supported to self-assess their own maturity level before an official assessment is made. Three levels of maturity (bronze, silver and gold) are then awarded by Aero Excellence assessors, a validation recognised industry-wide and intended to negate lengthy separate and repetitive individual assessments.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury previously described Aero Excellence’s intention to establish a universally recognised “maturity benchmark” designed to “strengthen the operational, environmental and cyber excellence of our industries in order to meet future challenges and improve competitiveness.”
BWB hopefuls: JetZero aims for MOM sector; Natilus raises $28m for heart of the market
By Scott Hamilton
JetZero’s Z4 BWB for the Middle of the Market has a larger wingspan than the Boeing 767. JetZero compares its economics against the out-of-production, 1980s designed 767-200ER, not the current generation of wide-body aircraft. Credit: JetZero.
Feb. 11, 2026, © Leeham News: JetZero, a start-up company based in Long Beach (CA), is developing a Blended Wing Body (BWB) aircraft for the so-called Middle of the Market (MOM). MOM is now occupied by the remaining Boeing 767-300ERs and 757s, the older and current generation Airbus A321 and the forthcoming Boeing 737-10. The older generation Airbus A330s and the current generation Boeing 787, Airbus A330neo and the A350-900 also serve the MOM sector.
The design is a 250-passenger airliner, the same size as the larger NMAs that were cancelled. JetZero says the BWB will be 30% more aerodynamically efficient than the aircraft it replaces. The company compares the Z4 economics against the Boeing 767-200ER. It has not compared the Z4 with the current generation aircraft the BWB actually to compete against for sales and costs.
Michel Merluzeau, Sales Engineering and Market Development for JetZero, said the MOM has an “addressable market” is 12,000 aircraft. However, he said this does not reflect the anticipated share that might be captured by the Z4, a figure he did not disclose. Merluzeau was speaking at the annual Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance conference today in suburban Seattle.
The JetZero 250-seat BWB in United’s colors. Source: JetZero