The Airbus-Boeing Rivalry, Explained

If you step onto a commercial aircraft for a flight today, chances are that the plane is either an Airbus or Boeing jet. This probability increases even more if you’re flying long-haul, as the long-haul market is almost entirely by Airbus and Boeing. The competition between Airbus and Boeing is widely regarded as the “Coke vs. Pepsi” in the aviation industry. So, how did Airbus and Boeing become a duopoly in the commercial aviation market?

A United Boeing 777–200 on landing (Source: The Air Current)

Humble Beginnings

Airbus Industrie

Airbus was created as a multi-national consortium by many European countries, such as France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom on December 18th, 1970. Airbus’ main goal at the time of establishment was to compete against the aviation giants in the United States, including Boeing, Lockheed, and McDonell Douglas. On October 28th, 1972, Airbus’ first commercial aircraft, the A300, took its first flight in the skies. About a decade later, the shorter A310 was launched, followed by the all-time successful A320 family. These programs paved the start of Airbus’ successful journey and shaped it into the aviation powerhouse we know today.

Pacific Aero Products Co.

This name may seem strange, but it’s the initial name of the aviation giant currently known as Boeing. Pacific Aero Products Co. was founded by William E. Boeing on July 15, 1916 in Seattle, Washington. Merely a year after, their name changed to The Boeing Company. Boeing is known for its innovative designs, creating the first modern passenger airliner (Model 247 in 1933), the first airliner with a pressurized cabin (Model 307 Stratoliner in 1947), and the best selling commercial aircraft in history (Boeing 737 family in 1967). Boeing has a much richer history when compared to Airbus, but Airbus still holds up as a mighty competitor against this aviation giant.

Fierce Competitors

So, how did Airbus and Boeing became such rivals? For many years, the commercial aviation market was entirely dominated by manufacturers in the United States. As Airbus was established to directly compete with Boeing, it did all it could to create their first airplane to be as innovative as possible. This led to the birth of the Airbus A300 in 1972. The A300 was a great start for Airbus, but Boeing was already one step ahead, creating world’s first jumbo jet, the all-time iconic Boeing 747. However, over the next few years, Airbus rolled out more and more competitive aircraft that took over almost half of Boeing’s market.

Airbus A300’s first flight on October 28th, 1972 (Source: Airbus)

Competing Aircraft

Here’s a quick rundown of the aircraft in competition between Airbus and Boeing:

• Short-haul: Airbus A220/Airbus A320/Boeing 737
• Medium-haul: Airbus A321XLR/Boeing 737–10/Boeing 757/Boeing 767
• Long-haul: Airbus A330neo/Airbus A350/Boeing 777/Boeing 787
• Jumbos: Airbus A380/Boeing 747

It’s pretty evident that both companies produce short-haul, medium-haul, and long-haul aircraft. Many companies commit to an all-Boeing fleet (e.g. Ryanair and Southwest) or an all-Airbus fleet (e.g. Frontier and Spirit) to maintain a well relationship with their respective manufacturers.

Market Share

Trends of Airbus and Boeing marketshare (Source: Reuters)

The chart above suggests that the number of deliveries by Airbus has been steadily increasing in the past few decades, as well as its market share. In 2003, Airbus finally surpassed Boeing for the first time in market share. As long as these two keep on competing, both companies will learn from each other and roll out planes that are more and more advanced. So, how could any other company overthrow these aviation giants and break the duopoly?

COMAC: A New Competitor?

COMAC, short for the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd., is a Chinese government-funded commercial aircraft manufacturer. Having previously built the ARJ-21, it has some experience with producing jetliners. The ARJ-21 was not very successful, with less than 200 confirmed orders. COMAC’s eyes then turned to the global aircraft market: in 2008, COMAC announced the start of the C919 program. The C919 was designed to be a narrow-body airliner seating around 160 passengers, and the Chinese contender in the single-aisle market.

Its naming convention of C___ suggests its intended competition to Airbus and Boeing, which uses the naming conventions A___ and B___ respectively. The size of the C919 also makes it a direct competitor with Airbus and Boeing: the Airbus A320neo seats 165 passengers and the Boeing 737 MAX 7 seats 153 passengers.

The COMAC C919 during flight-testing (Source: Global Times)

Even though the COMAC C919 seats approximately the same PAX as the Boeing 737 MAX 7 and the Airbus A320neo, other aspects of the aircraft falls short of its competitors.

(Data sourced from Wikipedia)

So, is the C919 a prominent competitor for Boeing and Airbus? Long story short, not yet. The specifications for the C919 is generally worse than the 32N and the 7M7. However, this is not the end for COMAC.

On May 22nd, 2017, COMAC announced a joint venture with Russian jetbuilder UAC to create a widebody long-haul aircraft, purposefully compete with Airbus and Boeing. This is the idea behind the CR929, carrying 250 to 320 passengers. The first flight is predicted to be around 2030, with entry into service soon after.

Conclusion

Airbus and Boeing are both wonderful and innovative companies that push the boundaries of flight, designing and manufacturing greener and more efficient aircraft. The duopoly will most likely be not broken in the next couple of decades, at least until COMAC and UAC release the CR929. However, this friendly competition pushes both manufacturers to learn from each others’ mistakes, bringing forth the next generation of human flight.