European Planemaker Says 737 MAX, 747-8 Claims Are 'Exaggerated'

Readers of airline industry trade magazines are apparently being treated to an ad campaign from Airbus, with the European planemaker accusing Boeing of exaggerating its performance data for the 737 MAX and the 747-8. Boeing, meanwhile, is not letting the charges go unanswered.

In one recent ad, Airbus depicts a Boeing aircraft as Pinocchio ... with an elongated nose. The headline: "Why is our competitor stretching the truth?" John Leahy, the head of sales for Airbus, told Reuters that Boeing is "blatantly misrepresenting the truth by orders of magnitude" when it comes to comparing the 737 MAX and 747-8 to the Airbus A320neo and A380.

But Mark Birtel, Boeing Commercial Airplanes spokesman, said the company stands by its airplanes and their performance data. "Ultimately, our customers will decide," he said.

The advertising comes as both companies are seeing record orders for their single-aisle airplanes over the past couple of years. Airbus took the 2011 round with large orders for its re-engined A320neo, but this year, Boeing has made several multi-billion-dollar deals for the 737MAX. Analysts have indicated that Boeing has once again become the world’s top seller of airliners.

Boeing is claiming that the 737MAX will be 8 percent more efficient than the A320neo, and that the existing 737s are 8 percent more efficient than the A320s that are currently flying. Airbus says the re-engined A320 will have a 3.3 percent per-seat edge over the new 737.

In its own ads, Boeing says that the total cost of flying 747-8 is 26 percent less than the same trip flown by an A380. Airbus acknowledges that the 747-8 is 10 percent less expensive, but at a 30 percent size advantage, the A380 wins by virtue of additional seats.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time Pinocchio has been invoked in the airliner wars. A Boeing executive made the comparison referring to an Airbus exec at the 1994 Farnborough Airshow, according to Flight International.

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.airbus.com