Boeing and Airbus have been fiercely battling each
other for the past two decades for the most orders of aircraft to be filled.
Boeing started in 1916 building Navy airplanes and has since moved up through
to airline manufacturing. Today, they have tapped into multiple aviation
markets in addition to the airlines, including military drone technology and
fuel tankers. Airbus on the other hand only started building aircraft in the
early 1970s with the introduction of the A300. They took hold of the market by
incorporating an electronic flight computer or 'fly by wire' system into the
cockpit which eliminated the need for a flight engineer. This was a great leap
in technology that changed the industry forever, today there are very few
aircraft that require a three person crew in all areas of aviation. Boeing is
the type of company that is tried and true with thousands of aircraft being
operated around the world for the past century while Airbus is only a recently
serious competitor in the global airline market.
Boeing became the great company it is today by
creating aircraft that have stood the test of time. They created the 707 which
proved to be the first successful jet airliner and then again the 747 which is
still being manufactured to this day. The 747 was the first double deck
aircraft to be mass produced and was also the first wide body jet, meaning it
has two aisles. Recently, they have released the 787 Dreamliner that
drastically changed the way airliners could be manufactured, changing from
aluminum towards mostly composite materials. They are hoping that this will be
the next great aircraft that will launch their company into the future of air
travel. Airbus has a very similar philosophy in the fact that they created this
great 'fly by wire' technology that reduces workload for crew members and saves
airlines money. They also hold the title of the largest airliner in production
in the form of the A380. Although these manufacturers are in direct competition
in the airline sector, Boeing has multiple types of aircraft that are not in
direct competition with Airbus. One such example is the Boeing F/A-18E/F SuperHornet which is a variant of the F-18 fighter jet used by the U.S. Navy.
The numbers are very close across the board
currently between the two aircraft manufacturers. Currently in the year of
2013, Airbus has an operating fleet of 6819 aircraft while Boeing airplanes
still flying around the world number at 9180 (Flightglobal, 2013). Boeing
currently employs 170,820 people across the entire company(Boeing, 2013).
Airbus on the other hand only boasts 59,000 employees throughout their company(Airbus,
n.d.). This great gap in numbers between the two companies can be the
effect of Boeing competing in multiple markets in addition to large airline
catergory aircraft. Although Airbus does do some military work, they do not
have nearly the same reach as Boeing does with everything from drones to aerial
refueling tankers. The reliability of both Airbus and Boeing airplanes are very
much positive, although in the media lately is the 787. The Boeing 787
Dreamliner has seen many setbacks in its development and most recently has been
plagued with an overheating battery system. On January 15th this year an ANA
787 was forced to land after takeoff from Yamaguchi Ube when the lithium ion battery caught fire (Wingfield-Hayes, 2013). This
battery problem grounded the 787 fleet around the world for moths until a fix
was created by Boeing. This is just a minor setback in the grand scope of
things, in 10 years, nobody will remember the battery issues that are now plaguing
the Dreamliner.
Flightglobal. (2013). World
airliner census 2013 (Rep.). Retrieved October 28, 2013,
from Flightglobal Insight website:
http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/media/reports_pdf/emptys/106686/world-airliner-census-2013.pdf
Boeing. (2013, September 26). Boeing Employment
Numbers. Boeing.
Retrieved October 28, 2013, from
http://www.boeing.com/boeing/aboutus/employment/employment_table.page
Airbus. (n.d.). People & culture. Airbus,
a Leading Aircraft Manufacturer. Retrieved
October 28, 2013, from http://www.airbus.com/company/people-culture/
Wingfield-Hayes, R. (2013, January 16). Top Japan
airlines ground Boeing 787s after emergency. BBC News.
Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21038128
I think the military aircraft that Boeing supplies does gives them an advantage over Airbus. It shows how technologically advanced Boeing is over Airbus also.
ReplyDeleteGood post Scott. With Airbus being on a consistent rise over the past few decades and taking more of a percentage of Boeing's hold of the airline industry, it almost seems like Boeing is on somewhat of a downturn. Do you think that Airbus will eventually take over as the lead manufacturer in our lifetime?
ReplyDeleteI think that Boeing's ability to fight for market space in the military sector provides them with an advantage over Airbus and is probably one of the big reasons they have such a large work force.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, very informing. You made a great point when bringing up the fact that although Boeing and Airbus are extremely close in competition when looking in the jet airline sector, Boeing is more involved in other sectors within aviation. Boeing not only has a larger history but is involved in the development of military aircraft, where as Airbus is only involved in airline aircraft. When looking at the big picture this can give Boeing an heads up in the race if they are able to use the technology and research from other areas of their operations.
ReplyDeleteBoeing definitely has an advantage over Airbus in regards to having a military sector to provide for as well as a commercial. Airbus knows that they are lacking in that regard and want what Boeing has. Airbus even tried to get on the same playing field as Boeing by attempting to merge Airbus with BAE. A merger like that would have resulted in a European aerospace and defense giant that could have competed with Boeing. Oh well!
ReplyDeleteBoth Boeing and Airbus are very large companies. Do you think that Boeing is larger because of how long they have been in business? Their numbers a similar, but Boeing is larger than Airbus, as you stated both in size of company and amount of planes in service. This could also be due to marketing or overall preferences of customers.
ReplyDelete