Vicious Dogfight Or Snitty Catfight?
Oh, what a difference a couple of years make.
Just two years ago, Boeing and Airbus were at each
others' throats. At the Paris Air Show 2003, Airbus was the
underdog with a bullet, set to overtake Boeing as the leader in
commercial aircraft sales.
Boeing Commercial Aircraft CEO Alan Mulally was almost red in
the face as he accused Airbus of cutting prices so low that the
industry was suffering. Through the worst of the 9/11 fallout,
Airbus continued to chip away at Boeing's sales lead until, by the
end of the year, there was a new champion in the ring. Airbus was
outselling Boeing.
At this year's Paris Air Show, Boeing is the hard-charging
underdog, nipping at Airbus's heels with its fast-selling 787
Dreamliner.
The two companies are, through their governments, locked in a
trade dispute that, in itself, could end up costing hundreds of
millions of dollars.
And then there are the jokes. The New York Times reports Boeing
executives flocked to the balcony of their suite as the Airbus A380
landed at Le Bourget Airport earlier this week for the 2005 Paris
Air Show. There were some serious "ooo's" and "ahh's" as the
aircraft approached on final. But when it touched down on the
runway that had to be lengthened for just this occasion, one Boeing
wag turned to another and said, "Look for the dent in the
runway."
So Boeing's situation seems to have brightened somewhat in two
years, a fact evidenced solely by the sales figures both companies
are touting this year. Even though it's not off the drawing board,
the 787 is selling rather quickly. But the Airbus A380 project has
been delayed because of manufacturing and design issues while sales
of the A350 -- a direct competitor to the 787 -- isn't selling as
fast as the EADS subsidiary had hoped.
So what changed? How is it that, in a head-to-head competition,
sales of Boeing's 787 seems to be outpacing the rival A350?
Ask the experts.
"Boeing's original strategy was purely defensive: to protect the
787 program," Richard L. Aboulafia, vice president for research at
the Teal Group, told the Times. "Now it's switched from defense to
offense. They want to disrupt the A350."
To some degree, that strategy seems to have worked. Airbus
parent EADS announced earlier this month that it would delay until
September a launch decision on the A350 -- hoping to quell the
ongoing World Trade Organization dispute over launch subsidies.
On second thought, perhaps two years hasn't made such a
difference after all.