You might think this week's European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Geneva would have sucked up about all the news, leaving little of interest to be announced at the upcoming Le Bourget air show, but that may not be quite true. For instance, Airbus is hoping to unveil the first A380 in a VVIP configuration. A letter of intent has already been signed, according to Airbus. The A380 will offer unprecedented space for designers of interior cabins, but doing the completion is also going to take up a lot of capacity wherever the work is done (more on the bottlenecks in aircraft completion in Monday's Aviation Week & Space Technology). The outfitting process, depending on just how lavish it will be, can take around two years.
Also looming is an important engine announcement. Dassault Aviation suggests it will pick the engine supplier for its new business jet, the twin-engined Falcon 50 replacement. Honeywell, Rolls-Royce, Snecma, General Electric, and Pratt & Whitney are in the running for the nominal, 10,000 lb. thrust engine. Rumor had it at Ebace that Honeywell and Rolls may be the front runners, but then again, who knows who was spreading that rumor.
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