Boeing, Airbus Lock Horns On Superjumbo

Their fierce rivalry enlivened Farnborough, one of the world's largest air shows and a crucial marketplace for both as they planned aviation strategy for the 21st century.

The European consortium, eager to loosen Boeing's monopoly at the top end of the market, is racing to deliver by the year 2003 its own plane, the A3XX, that would carry 550 passengers. Its forecasts show that 25 per cent of all airline revenues in the next 20 years will come from large-capacity planes as airports become more congested and runway space is put at a premium. Boeing, which is mulling plans to develop its range from the current 747-400 jumbo jet and move up to 500 and 600 stretch versions, argues the market is not big enough for its rival to justify developing a completely new plane.

 

Boeing scored the first points in the propaganda war on Monday when questioning the ebullient optimism of Airbus. Ron Woodard, President of the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, said its forecasts showed the world will only need 500 large capacity aircraft over the next 20 years. Boeing forecast it would cost $5 billion to develop a stretch version of its current jumbo jet workhorse while Airbus has put an $8 billion price tag on its A3XX project.

Woodard said: It is hard to imagine that Airbus can do a totally new airplane for an $8 billion investment. So that is why they feel compelled to forecast nearly 1,400 airplanes to economically justify the investment.

On Monday, Airbus was literally deprived of the floor to reply to Boeing when the stage of the media briefing room buckled under the weight of reporters who went to the Boeing briefing. Airbus, the consortium of France's Aerospatiale, British Aerospace Plc, Germany's Daimler-Benz Aerospace and Casa of Spain, was forced to delay its scheduled press briefing for a day as hasty repairs were conducted. But Dick Evans, chief executive of Airbus partner British Aerospace, was quick to launch an attack of his own.

He accused Boeing of using profits from its current 747 jumbo jet range to discount prices on its smaller jets when competing for total fleet sales.