Airbus falters, Boeing soars....

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20060615-122011-2268r.htm

Dr. Mordrid

[Admiral]

Does anyone know the production scheme for the new Airbus ?
If the first one was made by bits in very different countries and it took them forever to get them together, do they have a centralized production facility now ?

edit: hmm... in late 2004 they had problems with extending the runway for the Hamburg production facility. Summer 2005, it's about the interior fittings posing some problems, "notably the installation of new entertainment systems". And now it's about all of these minor problems together causing the accumulated delay.
Or so they say... was just curious about it, I probably won't see an A380 on Romanian airports anyway.

[az]

The A380 will always be made in different countries. It's how Airbus works.

[Umfriend]

So will the 787. Boeing even has adapted 747's flying 787 fuselages... I think, geographically speaking, Boeing production may even be more widely dispersed than Airbus.

Airbus will do just fine I think. The 787 is just a different plane. I don't so airlines really switching that easily. It's a game to get them cheap IMO. When is the 787 due for its maiden flight? It'll have probs as well.

[Dr Mordrid]

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/article_1172933.php/Airbus_A380_Is_the_golden_goose_only_a_white_elephant

In addition, Goldman Sachs analysts told the French business daily La Tribune that the delivery delay was 'very damaging to the credibility of EADS management and to the reputation of Airbus.'

The delay, which was caused by a miscalculation of the electronics wiring system for the big plane, was only the latest in a series of mishaps and bad publicity for EADS, which is largely French and German owned and managed and one of Europe's flagship companies,

Earlier this year, Airbus admitted that it had erred in the design of another plane, the A350, which was developed quickly after the stunning success of arch-rival Boeing's Dreamliner 787, and has taken that product back to the drawing board.

But the worst for EADS and Forgeard may yet be to come. Questions are being raised in the media about the sale in mid-March of large chunks of EADS shares by Forgeard, his children and other EADS executives.

All this while Boeing delivers a plane 20% more fuel efficient than its competition (787 Dreamliner) and is once again stretching the 747 to make it competative with the A380.

Looks like the 747 will be th commercial equivalent of the B-52....endlessly adaptable. They'll probably be making some variant of the 747 long after most of us are gone.

Dr. Mordrid

[MultimediaMan]

Edited to add... 20% more fuel efficient, with lower maintenance costs.

Airbus will do OK in the long run, there is no doubt, but this is the first time they have built a "heavy"; Boeing has been doing it for two generations, that kind of institutional knowledge you simply cannot buy.

[Dr Mordrid]

Nor can you deny the advantage the 747 has in being able to use existing airports. That IMO was a major miscalculation on the part of Airbus. That and presuming that any destination would fill that thing on a regular basis....

Dr. Mordrid

[az]

Anything to make you happy, M.

Both companies will do fine in the long run. Airbus has had a few quite good years, the over-enthusiasm has received a damper, but it'll continue to do well, and continue to innovate, just like Boeing will.