Saj Ahmad, the self-proclaimed "analyst", finally published a public post after more than a year. No wonder he keeps his posts private. This post about the A340 termination and A350 delay was completely absent of any analysis or information. It was a self-congratulatory bloviating piece of opinion.
A true "analyst" would provide information and analysis about why Airbus did what it did. Nothing.
There still is no information about his CV that gives anyone any basis on which to determine his credentials.
Ahmad's "About":
FleetBuzz Editorial.com is a private intelligence and analysis resource for the aerospace, airline and aviation industries.
Do not ask for a password to the content because you won’t be given one.
Strictly by invitation only.
A true "analyst" would provide information and analysis about why Airbus did what it did. Nothing.
There still is no information about his CV that gives anyone any basis on which to determine his credentials.
Ahmad's "About":
About
Do not ask for a password to the content because you won’t be given one.
Strictly by invitation only.
Nice blog idea!
ReplyDeleteI have always been surprised by the level of bile on the fleetbuzz editorial site. It's like this guy applied to Airbus, Bombardier or P&W and was rejected. Someone should check if that's the case!
He seems right offended anyway - his river of hatred runs deep, maybe he should swim upstream and locate the source, just for his own sake, it might be good for him in the long run.
Just take his latest uncensored post: "to call time on the truly abysmal, gas guzzling relic that is the loss-making A340 family ... the A340 is (thankfully!) consigned to the history books, the global fleet will soon be retired as more fuel efficient twins replace them."
Pure poison. Why would an analyst (i.e. someone whose job it is to see things with objective, unbiased eyes) take such personal joy from the simple news that a manufacturer has discontinued a line?
Boeing has discontinued the B777-200, -300 and now the -200ER is reaching its end, no one orders that anymore either. That's just life. The -300ER is driving the B777 program forward as the A330 does for Airbus.
Regarding Saj's prediction of imminent mass A340 retirement, if my calculations from planespotters.net are correct, a total of 3 of the 375 A340s sold have been scrapped and 25 are stored. So 92% are actively in service for their operators. Not much sign that the global fleet is being retired any time soon there, or that they are loss-making - in the current environment, you ground loss-makers.
And to bring a few facts to the table, anyone that has been directly involved in an actual real-life, grown-up airline's long-range widebody evaluation (It doesn't appear Saj has) will know the A340-300 burns less fuel per trip than the B777-200ER - even Boeing's own campaign numbers (not Randy's PR speak) acknowledge that.
The B772ER won more orders (428 vs 218) because it had a range and payload advantage that reduced its per seat costs, not because of lower trip fuel. On the other hand, the B777-300ER has a fuelburn advantage over the A340-600 and its sales performance reflects this. All other variant comparisons are niche products that don't matter too much.
With 1,549 sales, is the A330/A340 family not now the most sold widebody family in history? (And they are certainly one family, designed together and built on the same line). I believe the B747 is at 1,527 sales and the B777 at 1,295 and climbing. All great programs. The A340 was introduced a full 18 years ago and was a revolutionary widebody at the time, the first FBW.
It is competition that benefits the airlines - the manufacturers pushing eachother to innovate, go further, burn less fuel, reduce noise, increase comfort, reduce maintenance cost ... and long may that competition continue. Despite what looks to be Saj's utopia vision of all planes coming from Seattle or Charleston.