Boeing delivered Dreamliner to Qatar Airways

At the moment the air show in Farnborough takes place again. Here, the two aviation giants Airbus and Boeing duel to land new orders from customers.

Boeing trumped right at the beginning of the event with a sensation. For more than 20 years, no civil aircraft was presented at a demonstration. Boeing took the opportunity and officially delivered the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Qatar Airways. This is the first of sixty aircraft to be delivered.

Boeing and Airbus are both in the black and orders are good, but they still don’t give each other anything and try to get or stay on top. Airbus delivered 534 aircraft to its customers in 2011 while Boing completed 477 aircraft, closely followed. But Jim McNerney, Boing’s CEO announced that they will soon overtake Airbus.

Both aircraft manufacturers can come up with new innovations and are wowing the audience at the trade show. Only time will tell who will win the battle for market supremacy in the long run. This example shows nicely how competition stimulates business.

At the moment, customers are most interested in medium-haul aircraft. There is currently less demand for widebody aircraft. At Airbus, material defects in the A380 have tarnished the image of the flagship jet and the target set for new orders no longer seems achievable.

The show was a great success for both manufacturers, with orders worth billions of dollars being signed. Munich-based engine manufacturer MTU also landed orders worth more than 1 billion at the show.