An A330 for a 787
Airbus is reaping big orders and a renewed interest in its A330 since Boeing has been unable to deliver the 787 even remotely on time and that is going to hurt Boeing in a few ways.
Delayed by 3 years now and with only some hope of commencing deliveries later this year, Boeing is paying penalty payments for its poor performance and those payments are being walked across the street to Airbus, not Boeing.
Boeing is being hurt since it hasn’t been able to offer a substitute aircraft to the airlines that the airlines want. It’s cheaper to build an airplane at cost than it is to pay big dollars in penalty payments that go to the competition.
What’s worse, Airbus is attracting a long look from traditional Boeing customers who now have little hope of obtaining a 787 any time in the next 5 or 6 years. That’s great for Airbus but it is a warning to Boeing as well. A stubborn resistence to the idea that bringing even more control of the 787 supplier network under Boeing’s wings is creating problems that some customers will have to question if they’ll ever be resolved.
Earlier I hypothesized that some secret Airbus agent(s) might have been placed to sabotage Boeing’s Dreamliner program. Really, I was kidding. But who’d have known my imaginary “agent-provocateur” was actually real, and would show up in Boeing’s HQ?
Dear Boeing,
What the #&@$ are you thinking?
Take control and get the jets built, already. Or do you fancy the idea of bankruptcy?
-R
(who is losing patience with boeing)