Boeing upped its challenge to arch-rival Airbus today by sealing its largest-ever commercial aircraft order – a potential $26bn deal which gives it the lead in the lucrative global market for wide-bodied commercial airliners.
The US planemaker signed the agreement with Emirates for 50 365-seat 777-300ER jets with an option for a further 20 at the Dubai Air Show.
The deal extends the existing strong relationship between Boeing and the fast-growing airline in the wide-body market, where profit margins are larger, and leaves Airbus struggling to recover from Friday's announcement that it is further delaying commercial deliveries of a variant of its yet-to-fly A350 XWB (extra wide body). The aircraft's wings and landing gear have been designed by Airbus engineers at Filton and wing parts will be manufactured on the same site by GKN.
The 314-seat A350-900 will not now be available to airliners until 2014 – around six months later than intended. The delay came four months after Airbus admitted the larger, 350-seat A350-1000, which competes directly with the 777 and was due to enter service in 2015, will not do so until 2017.
Emirates president Tim Clark has been critical of the A350-1000, reportedly saying the plane is heavy and risks falling short of performance requirements. His comments, and similar remarks from other airline bosses, have prompted Airbus engineers at Filton to seek ways of reducing the weight of the wings, which are made from composite materials.
John Strickland, a director at aviation advisors JLS Consulting, told Bloomberg: “It’s early days for the A350, but [Airbus] will need to take Emirates’ views into their design work as Boeing has had to do for the 777 if they want to be confident of large future orders from the carrier."
Airbus says its revamped A350-1000 design will be 25% more fuel efficient and carry 4.5 tonnes of additional weight.
Airbus's order tally for the A350 family remains impressive, with 373 for the A350-900 model, 119 for the smaller A350-800 and 75 for the A350-1000. Emirates has 70 orders pending for the plane, of which 20 are for the largest type.
Airbus maintains a healthy lead over Boeing in new business wins so far this year with 1,038 orders for new aircraft compared to Boeing’s 426- thanks mainly to strong demand for its A320 neo, the fuel efficient single-aisle, short-haul airliner now in development. Its pioneering fuel 'sharklet' wing tips, designed by its Filton engineers, are a major selling point. Airbus is also dominating the 'superjumbo' section of the market with its 525-seat A380 outselling Boeing's 747.
