In less than two weeks Boeing Aircraft Corporation has scored two powerful coups over rival EADS and its Airbus subsidiary. Wining a $35 billion refueling tanker contract from the US Air Force she has now circumnavigated the globe and received 43 commercial orders, worth $10 billion, from the Chinese. More importantly, the deal encompasses the full spectrum of Boeing’s jumbo aircraft including the mighty super jumbo B-747-800, the versatile B-777 and the new B-787 Dreamliner.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on March 8, 2011, that Air China's general manager, Zhang Yang, insisted, “Air China [is]…not ruling out further orders for the new jumbo.” This possibility will further strengthen Boeing’s position in the fastest growing commercial aircraft market in the world, according to Alison Leung and James Pomfret from Reuters’s.
Airbus A-380 Super Jumbo verses Boeing B-787 Dreamliner
Several years ago the media focused on the delays in the delivery of Airbus’s A-380 super jumbo and compared it to the delays of Boeing’s B-787 Dreamliner. Today a multitude of media outlets continue to compard the two aircraft, not from a delay standpoint but from the operational characteristics of the specific airplanes.
The problem is; comparing an A-380 to a B-787 is comparable to contrasting a Rolls Royce to a Lamborghini. The 380 is a super jumbo, based upon improved, yet existing, Airbus technology. The 787 is a new design that not only includes new aircraft technology and never before used materials (on commercial aircraft) but also completely new instrumentation, layout and cockpit characteristics. The “Bus” is a beast primarily designed for high density long haul markets, while the Dreamliner has brought “big-jet ranges to mid-size airplanes,” according to Boeing. It has “…unmatched fuel efficiency, resulting in exceptional environmental performance.”
There is little commonality in the two airplanes other than they were both delayed. The true airbus competitor for the 787 is being redesigned, yet to be released and called the A-350.
Airbus A-380 verses Boeing B-747-800 Super Jumbos
In the super jumbo category the Boeing B-747-800 is the true rival to EADS’ Airbus A-380. Airbus has a solid lead over Boeing in that her aircraft has been in service for nearly two years while Boeing has only started general production. However, even though Airbus has many more orders, she has only delivered 59 to date. By comparison, Air China’s $1.54 billion order for 5 “Super 74s” goes along with the 33 from All Nippon, Korean and Lufthansa already ordered. Boeing also has sold 74 B-747-800F (freighter versions) and 2 specialized -800s for the US Air Force as the replacement for the President’s Air Force One before the first aircraft is delivered.
A Common Type Rating
Now that the Boeing is out and flying, the China deal may signal a significant problem for Airbus. "We timed it pretty much in line with the natural replacement cycle for the 747-400," Marlin Dailey, Boeing's executive vice president said in the Herald article. The Boeing B-747-800 is a common type with its predecessor the Boeing B-747-400. The similarity means that pilots need only different training in order to fly the new variant, saving airlines tens of thousands of dollars per pilot on training and thousands of hours of crew down time. This is a substantial cost savings for those airlines currently operating the 747.
- Initial Training – here the words do not mean a student pilot wishing to learn how to fly, but training for experienced pilots on a new aircraft type. In the case of the A-380 this training would take from 2-4 months per pilot. This means the pilot in training is not flying any aircraft – a lost productivity cost for every airline.
- Differences Training – When aircraft have a common type rating, an airline trains the pilot on the new characteristics of the aircraft. In cases like the B-747-800 this lost productivity time is as little as 1-2 weeks for pilots currently flying the B-747-400. Boeing 747 Chief Pilot Mark Feuerstein told reporter Jansen Ng of the Daily Tech on February 9, 2010, "It was a real privilege to be at the controls….The airplane…handled just like a 747-400."
Boeing and Airbus made fundamental decisions years ago. Airbus believed bigger was better, building the largest civilian aircraft in the world. Boeing suspected industry aspirations included an extremely fuel efficient, high tech airplane, capable of carrying 300 passengers anywhere on the planet. Both the A-380 and the B-787 can fly extreme distances (15,200 km for the A-380 and15,750 for the Boeing). However, the 78’s lower cost and greater efficiency may prove the determining factor in these difficult economic times.
Airbus and Boeing have had a rivalry for decades and China is the new battleground. With the $10 billion Asian deal, Boeing appears to have won this round. However, after succeeding in America with the USAF, it seems she has not only won round one but also round two and it may only be a three round fight.
Frank W. Hardy - Frank has 36 years of airline experience navigating every ocean & continent. Flying 25,000 hours in 42 years presents a rare historical ...
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