Mon, Jun 22, 2009
Airbus Expects Competition To Its Long-Range Hauler
While so much of the news from Paris this week has been who will
buy what airplanes from rival manufacturers Boeing and Airbus, some
at the Paris Air Show were looking into their crystal balls to see
where the next battle lines would be drawn. The answer seemed to be
what would Boeing do to compete with the new A350-1000 widebody
from Airbus.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Tom Williams, head of
programs at Airbus, told Dow Jones Newswires "When we launched the
A350-1000 we could see it was an airplane that was clearly going to
attack Boeing's 777. We always had in our mind a business case that
this would probably provoke a reaction because the 777 has been
such an important and successful program for Boeing."
And in fact, Boeing did discuss the possibility of launching a
new, all-composite replacement to the 777, which is the largest
twin-engine jet flying today. It is about the same size as the
A350, but flies less efficiently. Airlines have been flying the 777
since 1995.
"We knew that Boeing wouldn't sit back and let us steal their
777 business. We always recognized that they would counter-attack
and we wouldn't have the A350-1000 market all to ourselves,"
Williams said. "They'll probably come back with a significant
upgrade on today's airplane, or they'll come out with an all-new
one. So we're waiting to see the color of the smoke."
The paper reports that the first 350 to enter service will the
900 series. It will be followed by the 1000 model about two years
later. But flight testing is not scheduled to begin with the
airplane until late in 2011.
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