Airbus, Boeing 'cozy' duopoly starts to crack

For more than a decade, Airbus SAS and Boeing Co had only each other to watch.

Now rivals from Canada, China and Russia are developing models to break into the narrow-body segment, dominated by about 10,000 Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s in operation and 4,000 on order. The single-aisle jet market will likely reach $1.68 trillion over the next 20 years, Boeing estimates.

“This cozy world of just the two of us is almost over,” Boeing Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney said in an interview. “We’re still going to compete like crazy. If you think you had to meet promises with two guys, think about when you’ve got five.”

The shifting dynamics will be visible at the Farnborough Air Show, the world’s largest aerospace exhibition, which starts July 19. Bombardier Inc, China’s state-owned Comac and Russia’s Irkut will brief on their jets’ development. At stake is the incumbents’ hold on a narrow-body market that is the cash cow of the civil aviation industry, accounting for more than two thirds of output and about 40 per cent of sales, with the two manufacturers churning out a combined 70 planes each month.