INSIDE AIR TRAVEL
Airbus and Boeing Clash Over Jumbo Freighters
Forget about extra-wide seats and luxury frills, the battle is on to sell freight versions of the world's largest passenger planes to oil the wheels of global trade.
At this year's Farnborough air show, executives have been getting hot under the collar about claims and counterclaims from rivals Airbus and Boeing.
Each accuses the other of misleading airlines about the hard economics of flying their jumbos in and out of the world's fastest-growing trade zones like China and India.
At stake is a global market for the largest air freighters that Boeing estimates to be worth 340 aircraft or close to USD$100 billion at list prices over the next 20 years.
Boeing scored a victory this week with a 10 plane order worth almost USD$3 billion for its newest cargo aircraft, the 140 tons freight version of the 747-8, a stretch with new wings and modern engines, from Dubai-based carrier Emirates.
Airbus is redoubling efforts to sell its A380 triple-deck superfreighter -- replacing passengers with palettes on its twin passenger decks, with the plane's cargo belly making a third -- but is angry at what it calls a Boeing campaign to twist facts.
"The 747 is very emotional for Boeing. We are threatening their old monopoly and the idea of us potentially overtaking them on freight goes straight to the heart and guts of Boeing people," A380 marketing head Richard Carcaillet said.
At the Boeing chalet overlooking the display runway at the air show, Boeing's upbeat marketing supremo Randy Baseler believes he is already giving Airbus the benefit of the doubt in the way he runs the data -- and still beats the A380.
"Their plane weighs 74 tons more on their own figures. Our figures suggest 82 tons. We have a new wing design, but let's give them a slight advantage on the A380's wider wing. Our engine is four percent more efficient," Baseler said.
"A plane that weighs less, is about as aerodynamic and has a better engine is more efficient. They might choke saying it but they will probably admit we are more efficient."
Sitting inside the Airbus stand, Carcaillet is more fuming than choking but believes the unspoken rules of combat between the world's only large commercial airframe manufacturers have been broken.
"This is something I have never seen in 15 years at Airbus. They are bending facts. I take Boeing numbers and assume they deliver. They assume our plane can hardly fly," he said.
Carcaillet says Boeing has exaggerated the weight of the future A380 freighter to make it look uncompetitive against the 747, around which much of the global freight market is built.
He also says the US planemaker forgets the A380 can fly more than 1,000 nautical miles further. Rather than a cost-per-unit advantage of over 20 percent claimed by Boeing, Airbus claims the 747-8 has an 8 to 12 percent cost disadvantage.
Emirates canceled two A380 freighters shortly before taking the Boeing order, converting them to A380 passenger versions of which it is the largest buyer.
But the models are very close in orders so far. Boeing has sold 28 747-8F while Airbus has sold a net 25 A380-800F.
The 747 and A380 freight battle stands out as one of the most direct head-to-head battles between Airbus and Boeing, alongside fierce competition over single-aisle passenger jets.
While the passenger versions take aim at different segments -- Boeing's carries 450 people and the Airbus 555 in standard layout -- the freighters are closer with payloads of 140 to 150 tons, plus or minus a margin for their respective accuracy claims.
The demand for such freighters is effectively a tussle for East-West trade flows, spurred on by China's burgeoning exports.
Yet competition is also heating up for the regional and North-South markets served by smaller planes as Airbus prepares to launch a 65 tons freight version of its A330-200 wide-body, and both firms eye returns from converting single-aisle jets.
Weight is not the only factor in this year's freight fracas.
Airbus says the roomy A380 is more suited to a shift towards less density in goods traffic. High-tech items tend to have more packaging and therefore weigh less for the volume used.
Boeing counters that Airbus is blinded by its sale of A380 freighters to parcel firms Fedex and UPS who operate that way. At transition points like Anchorage, Boeing teams have been inspecting the goods being loaded on palettes and found average density is as high as before, Baseler said.
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