The competition that exists between Boeing and Airbus has to be one of the fiercest fights ever seen in commercial aviation. Among aviation enthusiasts, most are dedicated only to one or the other and just visit an aviation enthusiasts discussion website and you’ll discover debate that is even more heated than what exists between Airbus and Boeing.
Family and friends have, from time to time, asked me whose airplanes I like the most. I probably lean towards Boeing more than anyone but for different reasons than many have. Before going further, I should say that I think Airbus builds a modern, competitive airliner and is in no way materially inferior.
I like Boeing’s approach to an aircraft. I think they value customer experience just a bit more whereas I think Airbus tends to value an airline just a bit more. One example is the difference between the 737 and the A320 aircraft. Both are made for the identitical market and both are modern, fuel efficient jets. Both have had rough spots over the years and both companies work incredibly hard to sell these jets to all kinds of airlines.
I should say that I admire how well Airbus has done at making their aircraft families cross-compatible when it comes to flight crews. A pilot for an A320 can upgrade to an A330/A340 with a lot less training than a similar upgrade from a B737 to B767/B777. Airbus makes owning their entire aircraft family highly beneficial *if* their aircraft family can fill all of your missions.
However, I do find the 737 just a hair more comfortable. I’m a rather tall and big person with longish legs. Having flown numerous examples of both aircraft, I find the aisle seat experience roughly similar and the window seat experience very different. The A320’s fuselage is more “circular” and therefore curves inward more at the shoulder to head height of most people. At the window, my perception is that my head must lean away from the fuselage and that feels uncomfortable. The 737’s fuselage is more ovoid and that same curve is more gradual and starts more above the passenger than next to him.
The seats should be roughly the same but my perception is, again, different. This simply may be a function of what US airlnes are using for a seat on the Airbus vs the Boeing. My perception is that the A320 class of aircraft typically have a seat that is a touch thinner, a touch harder and therefore a touch less comfortable on flight durations of 2+ hours. I have felt it on America West aircraft, US Air aircraft, United Airlines aircraft and Northwest Airlines aircraft.
I once had a chance to fly from PDX (Portland) to DFW (Dallas / Fort Worth) via DEN(Denver). My flight from PDX to DEN was on a United Airlines A320 that appeared to be older but not “old”. Within 1 hour, I found myself fidgeting and since I was in Economy Plus next to a window, I expected to feel more comfortable. I didn’t. The next segment was on a United Airlines 757 (not a 737 but it does have the same fuselage dimensions and uses the same seats) in plain old Economy rather than Economy Plus. I was simply more comfortable. The window seat felt more accomodating and I was finally able to relax enough to nap despite less legroom.
Each aircraft manufacturer tries hard to find the right niche for aircraft and I would argue that as a result of this competition, they actually are more complimentary these days than directly competitive. An airline could be well served by both Airbus and Boeing without sacrificing efficiency.
If I were to pick a fleet for the upcoming Delta / Northwest merger, I would center on using the 737 family for domestic service (using a combination of 737-700 and 737-800 aircraft, the 767 (or 787-3) for domestic transcontinental and Hawaii service, the A330 for trans-atlantic (Europe and Africa) and South American service, the 787 for South American / Southeast Asia and trans-pacific service and the 777-200LR and 777-300ER for long haul, high density international traffic from hubs like ATL (Atlanta), MSP (Minneapolis / St. Paul), DTW (Detroit), JFK (New York City) and LAX (Los Angeles).
It’s hard to say where the new Airbus A350-XWB will fit in “mission-wise” when it comes to such an airline. While it’s passenger economies may be a tad better than the 777, it won’t haul nearly as much cargo. At present, it cannot quite adequately fill the 777 mission role and it might just be a tad too big to compete directly with a 787-9/10 either.
One thing I admire about Boeing is that they tend to “right size” their aircraft for various markets. Often people directly compare Boeing and Airbus aircraft on the criteria that one aircraft can carry more people on the same mission than another. Occasionally, that’s valid. More often, not.
An airline needs aircraft that “fit” the passenger and cargo demand of various routes. Boeing has 40 years of experience helping airlines plan their fleet on these needs and does it well. The 787 was never intended to be a 767 or 777 replacement. It was developed to fit an emerging demand that really fell in between those two aircraft.
The next replacement for the 737/757 series will fall somewhere new as well and probably will not fill a need below the 737-700 and probably will not fill a role that exceeds the 757-300. That’s a 2 class aircraft that will probably have a family range accomodating from 150 passengers to 220 passengers. Real aircraft range will probably include transcontinental capability for all variants at about 3500 to 4000 nm (nautical mile) max range. Airbus will likely target a similar set of criteria with the next generation aircraft.
The discriminators in the next battle between Airbus and Boeing will be things like the best operating efficiency, dispatch rates and passenger comfort. I would give the edge to Boeing when it comes to efficiency and dispatch rates and it is anyone’s guess on passenger comfort. I’m certain that both companies will sell an amazing amount of the next generation single aisle aircraft and I’m equally certain that airlines will praise both.
Filed under: Airline Fleets, Airline Service by ajax
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