Disastrous delays: Guggenheim quits Boeing Deal

Seattle's aviation asset manager Guggenheim Aviation Partners shows Boeing that time really is money after cancelling its order for two new 747-8 jumbo-freighters, which Boeing has seen delayed until mid-2011.
Boeing suffered an earlier cut in the deal with Guggenheim halving its original 2006 order of four freighters, which have current list prices of US$319.3 million each. Guggenheim reduced the order by 50 per cent in December 2009 because of uncertainty surrounding the timing of the deliveries.
In September 2010 the need to redesign components extended Boeing's year-wait to 18 mouths.
There were a few discoveries we encountered in the early stages of flight test, Bob Saling, commercial aviation services and cargo communications at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told AirCargo News. The programme worked through a buffet experienced at a certain flap setting, a low-frequency vibration within a limited portion of the flight envelope, and an under-performing actuator for the inboard aileron.
The new 747-8 freighter delivery schedule announced in September 2010 followed a thorough assessment of the expected cumulative impact of technical disruptions to certification testing, continues Saling. These technical discoveries, which do not require structural changes to the aircraft. led to disruptions to certification testing, which the programme was unable to offset within the prior schedule.
Boeing is now adding fifth test jet to speed up the work, boosting the initial fleet of three. Under the test programme one 747-8 freighter took to the sky for the first time in early February 2010.
The cancellation was a direct result of the delays and the commercial consequences of those delays, Guggenheim's chief executive officer Steve Rimmer remarks. It's very disappointing for us as we wanted to stay with the programme.
The fifth variant of the aircraft includes new General Electric GEnx-2B67 engines and the longest span Boeing has built to date, measuring 224 ft 7 in (68.5 m)
Boeing says the 747-8 freighter will give cargo operators the lowest operating costs and best economics of any freighter. The aircraft is 76.3m long, which is 5.6 m longer than the 747-400 freighter. The stretch, orginally to add passenger space, provides 16 per cent more revenue cargo volume compared with its predecessor, which translates to an additional four main-deck pallets and three lower-hold pallets.
Boeing originally launched the 747-8 on 14 November 2005 with firm orders for 18 747-8 freighters: 10 from Cargolux of Luxembourg and eight from Nippon Cargo Airlines of Japan.
Our freighter orders have been very stable considering the 2008-2009 air cargo industry downturn, Saling remarks. "The uptorn of 2010 has been very helpful in bringing back aeroplanes that were grounded during the recession and airlines now are returning to profitability. We have a solid backlog of about 140 freighter aircraft, which is a considerable amount of lift for the industry to absorb. In addition, we find that airlines tend to go through a period of profitability before they consider placing further orders.
In addition to Guggenheim well-known cargo movers such as AirBridgeCargo Airlines, Atlas Air, Cathay Pacific, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, Emirates SkyCargo and Korean Air have ordered the 747-8 freighter.
Boeing experienced a fiery start to the year with allegations from Wikileaks that US diplomats were acting like market agents in trying to get international governments to purchase Boeing aircraft over European rival Airbus.
More Recently Boeing was outpaced by Airbus, which shot to first place in terms of orders for 2010 totalling 644 with a delivery figure of 510, while Boeing reached 625 and 462 respectfully.