Date: 18 Mar 97 03:14:48
From: Chuanga@cris.com (H Andrew Chuang)
Organization: Concentric Internet Services
Followups: 1 2 3 4
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A few days ago, I read a report in which a BA executive criticized
Boeing for shelving plans to build superjumbos. Also, he suggested
that Boeing should have a all-new superjumbo design instead of
derivatives based on the 30-year-old B747 design.
This is the first comment made by an airline that corroborated
Airbus's assertion of airlines' disinterest in Boeing's derivative
offerings.
A few years back when Boeing launched the third-generation B737,
I thought the "archaic" B737 could not be competitive. Thus, I
am very impressed by the B737-600/700/800 sales. In three years,
Boeing have already received orders for nearly 600 units of the
next-generation B737, while Boeing is still getting a lot of orders
for the B737-300/400/500. (About 1,100 units of the A319/320/321
have been ordered in a little less than 15 years.)
IMHO, Boeing's derivative-based superjumbo did hurt Boeing's ability
to secure enough early launch orders; airlines don't want to decide
until they see what Airbus has. However, I doubt airline executives
think Airbus will definitely have a better plane.
Using some examples in the engine business to prove new designs are
not always better. The IAE V2500 may have better fuel consumption
than the CFM56, however, the maturity of the CFM56 engine still
prove to be very important for the operators. The same thing
(i.e., maturity) probably can be said about the PW4084 (vs. the
GE90 and Trent 800 on the B777).
