AIRBUS VS BOEING

– THE END OF THE DUOPOLY?

Three years ago Boeing was doing just fine. The long running market-defying airliner duopoly was healthy, with both sides scoring almost equally on orders won and planes delivered. Airline buyers for new planes knew that healthy competition kept both sides mostly honest. And then Boeing spectacularly crashed and burned. The duopoly may be over.

CAN BOEING BOUNCE BACK? – and if Airbus continues as the dominant supplier – will it abuse its position? Can the airlines expect a massive increase in airliner prices?

Aviation Week hosted a fascinating webinar that covered these, any many other, questions about the changed relationship. What follows is my synthesis of the discussion.

A big question is whether Boeing can compete with its MAX 10.

Post Covid-19 the balance of power has shifted massively in Airbus’s favour. The key metric is the backlog of planes still to be built and delivered. Airbus now has a huge lead over Boeing and the Americans have still not announced an answer to the A321neo, which has given Airbus a commanding lead in the narrowbody market that used to be split 50/50 between the 737 and A320. Demand is so strong that, despite the worldwide supply chains crisis, Airbus is talking about raising aircraft production to unprecedented levels.

Read more in this months edition..