COMMERCIAL WIDEBODY AIRLINERS
66 | http://www.airinternational.comA
lthough the battle between the
commercial aircraft industry’s two
original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) heavyweights has in recent
years centred around single-
aisle narrowbody airliners, taking on greater
significance in the contest between Airbus and
Boeing are their twin-aisle widebody airliners.
In one corner, there’s the A350 and A330neo.
In the other corner, the 777X and 787.
Industry analysts are paying more attention
to the OEMs’ sales activities for these aircraft
because although both companies have
bulging orders sacks for single-aisles (Airbus
more than 6,000 orders for the A320 family
and Boeing over 4,000 for the 737), widebody
backlogs are reducing.
At the start of June 2018, Airbus had 1,082
passenger widebodies (comprising 298 A330s,
679 A350s and 105 A380s) and Boeing 1,069
jets (comprising 57 777-300ERs, 326 777Xs
and 686 787s) left to build. These numbersof course still constitute many years’ worth
of production, but with output rates ramping
up, securing new business to fill vacant future
production slots is important.Market segments
The commercial widebody aircraft market
is complex and fragmented, with different
niches. The lower end of the market is around
250 seats, where the 787-8 sits. Next up
the size scale is the 250-300 seats segment
where the A330, in both its A330ceo (classic
engine option) and A330neo (new engine
option) guises, and the 787-9 compete. Up
again, in the 300-to-350 seats category,
are the A350-900 and 787-10. Then comes
the 350-to-400 seats segment with the
A350-1000, 777-300ER and 777-8. Topping
the market is the 400 seats-plus segment,
occupied by the A380 and 777-9.
Which company has the lead depends
on the area of the market you’re looking at.In the sub-250 seats segment, Boeing had
sold 443 examples of the 787-8 by June- In the 250-to-300 seats category, ir
had sold 763 examples of the 787-9 by the
same point and the competing A330neo
(comprising the A330-800 and A330-900)
had sold 214, although Airbus has also
sold 1,489 A330ceo variants, as the A330-
200 and A330-300 are now marketed, in
the category.
Airbus leads the 300-to-350 seats niche,
with 679 A350-900s sold by June compared
to 171 787-10s. In the 350 to 400 seats
segment, Boeing has had great success with
the 777-300ER (841 sold) but by June it
had only sold 53 examples of the 777-8, the
new 777X variant for this category. Airbus’
offering for the niche, the A350-1000,
introduced to service earlier this year, has
got 168 orders so far. In the 400 seats-plus
segment the 777X has got 326 orders; the
A380 has sold 331 units.
Face off
Mark Broadbent looks at the different aspects of
the competition between Airbus and Boeing
for widebody aircraft sales, and possible
openings in the marketMAIN PICTURE:
The Airbus A350-900 leads
the Boeing 787-9 in the
300-350 seats segment of
the market, although sales
are lower for the 350-400
seat A350-1000.