Boeing and Airbus have competed
year after year in airline sales. Their narrow body designs, the A320 and the
737, have been the most obvious competition between the two companies. They
still upgrade the plane designs every year to sell them to customers in hopes
to sell more than the other. Fuel efficiency seems to be the largest focus for
both airline builders. In the jumbo jet market, Boeing has had great success
with the 747 while airbus manufactures the “super jumbo” A380. According to Adam
Levine-Weinberg, Boeing is trying to upgrade the 747 in hopes to better compete
with the A380. Boeing may have the leading edge to date. They have developed
the 787 Dreamliner, which sent sales through the roof, even though it was
delayed much longer than expected. According to Adam Levine-Weinberg, Boeing
has a better grasp on composite technology. Airbus is still trying to develop
ways to use this technology, but is not as advanced as Boeing.
Both Boeing and Airbus have planes
flying throughout the world. Boeing has more than 12,000 planes currently in
service compared to only 7443 that airbus currently has flying
(Boeing)(Airbus.com). Airbus is a
European based company employing more than 63,000 people. Boeing is a United
States based company employing almost 171,000 employees. With these statistics
alone, you can assume that Boeing has a leading edge both in size and amount of
planes in service. Why would Boeings statistics almost double that of airbus?
There could be many factors that play into this. Marketing could be one of the
largest contributors to Boeings success. It is rumored that Boeing may even use
negative situations such as that of a pilot shortage to a marketing advantage. Another
reason could be location and political power. Airbus is backed by European
nations which would give them the advantage in that market, where as Boeing is
located in the U.S. where there is a very strong political backing.
These two companies have not shown
any signs of slowing down in the near future. I believe they will only continue
to grow and sell more aircraft with increasing technologies being developed and
integrated every year. It will be almost impossible for a startup company to
compete with Boeing and Airbus on a size and economic scale. The duopoly they
have created will dominate the worldwide aviation community for years to come.
Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
"About Us." Boeing: Commercial Airplanes. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
"Orders & Deliveries." | Airbus, a Leading Aircraft Manufacturer.
N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
"Boeing 747-8 vs. Airbus A380 -- the Airline Giants
Face off." CNN Travel. N.p., 17 Dec. 2011. Web.
28 Oct. 2013.
I agree the only reasonable assumption from the number of employees Boeing has compared to Airbus is that Boeing surpasses Airbus in the number of planes in service. Others are saying that China may be considered a threat to Airbus and Boeing once they release an aircraft in 2014, but I don't think they'll become that great of a threat. Due to the barriers of entry that comes with being an aircraft manufacturer and the economy not too many can invest right now.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting is that while Boeing has more planes still flying than Airbus does, the percent of planes flying compared to planes sold is smaller for Boeing than Airbus. I'm not sure if that means that Boeing is less reliable, but I would be curious to know why the numbers are this way.
ReplyDeleteI think Boeing is just as reliable as Airbus. When it comes to safety, both companies spend millions of dollars on state-of-the-art technology in order to provide the safest form of transportation possible. Each year Boeing and Airbus bounce back and forth between who got the most orders that year and who delivered the most. While Boeing has received fewer orders they have delivered more and I think that, in a way, that looks more reliable.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, however, I think it’s important to note that Airbus is owned by EADS (The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company), which employs upwards of 119,000 employees. So when you consider that the entire Boeing workforce is not working on commercial projects I think the numbers equal out a bit more than comparing Airbus to Boeing.
ReplyDelete