Air France loves the 777-300ER. They are no longer buying A340-600's. They fly Airbus A320 series narrow bodies, but they are preferentially buying Boeing wide bodies.
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Posted on 07/05/2006 12:05:15 AM PDT by Righty_McRight
AIRBUS will confirm tomorrow that it has lost the lead in aircraft orders to its rival Boeing after five years of dominance, The Times has learnt.
The beleaguered jet builder will collate its half-year order book at a sales meeting in Toulouse tomorrow and a yawning gap between the two companies will become apparent.
Airbus has definitive orders for 145 to 150 aircraft so far this year. In May it had 105 orders. Boeing has three times as many with 445 (358 in May).
The disparity in sales figures emphasises the difficulties facing Airbus, which announced production delays in its flagship A380 project last month.
Gustav Humbert, Airbus’s chief executive, was replaced last weekend, as was Noël Forgeard, the head of Airbus’s parent company, EADS.
Airbus’s poor sales performance so far this year is in stark contrast to what the company has achieved in recent years.
In 2005 it had 1,055 orders compared with Boeing’s 1,002, the fifth consecutive year that the Toulouse-based company had beaten its American rival.
A City analyst said: “There is no doubt Airbus is struggling and it looks almost certain to lose out to Boeing over 12 months.”
In nearly all aircraft categories, Airbus is lagging behind Boeing. For example, Airbus has no new orders for the A380 superjumbo, which has a list price of £170 million, but Boeing has 19 orders for its closest equivalent model, the 747-8, which has a list price of £150 million.
Scott Babka, an analyst for Morgan Stanley, said: “Part of the problem is that Airbus took a 150-plane order from China at the end of last year. That order has actually only started to come through from individual airlines this year. Arguably, Airbus shot itself in the foot trying to win last year’s order battle.”
Airbus has been plagued with problems in recent weeks after it announced that the A380’s production difficulties would cost at least €500 million (£347 million) in lost earnings.
The share price of EADS is down about 30 per cent since this announcement and six former and current directors are being investigated for selling stock just weeks before ordering an internal investigation into the production problems.
BAE Systems, which owns 20 per cent of Airbus, has also announced that it wants to sell its stake in the aircraft maker.
NM Rothschild & Sons has valued the stake at €2.75 billion, a figure that has stunned many analysts who predicted a price of more than €4 billion.
Investors are concerned that the valuation is so low because the financial situation is worse than expected at Airbus.
Zafer Khan, an analyst with Société Générale, said: “This is what really scares me. Rothschilds had complete access to all the books and there is no reason to doubt what they say it is worth, which certainly puts the focus on why the numbers are so much lower.”
Excellent News.
When the new airline ticket tax and jet fuel tax hits their airline industry's demand, Airbus is going to seriously regret it.
Actually, I wonder if European airlines mostly buy and fly Airbus.
BAE urged to sue over Airbus delay blow
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13130-2254723,00.html
"...Airbus has no new orders for the A380 superjumbo, which has a list price of £170 million, but Boeing has 19 orders for its closest equivalent model, the 747-8, which has a list price of £150 million."
Quite a few european airlines still buy some Boeing planes. I think Ryanair is the biggest customor at the moment.
That tells me that this new environmental tax may be a new leverage for the socialists and anti-Americans to use to beat their airlines into submission.
Makes one wonder if airline subsidies, tax breaks, and grants will be lined up to reward airlines that throw business to Airbus. By possibly shrinking the airline travel market by artificially raising prices through taxes, airlines are more likely to turn to the governments for relief, increasing government influence in various business policies.
Air France loves the 777-300ER. They are no longer buying A340-600's. They fly Airbus A320 series narrow bodies, but they are preferentially buying Boeing wide bodies.
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
I bet that irks the French politicians like crazy.
It did, but the 777 is much superior to the A340.
Hopefully this picture will load. The one I posted in my ping doesn't want to load every time.
THAT HAS TO HURT.
I bet that also irks French politicians like crazy.
Why all this about order quantities???
The number of orders doesn't mean all that much.
What are the actual sales in dollars? That's what counts.
339 of them are 737's at $47-80 million each (depends on model/discounts)
11 of them are 747's at $216-285 million each (see above)
4 of them are 767's at $118-160 million each (see above)
22 of them are 777's at $178-240 million each (see above)
69 of them are 787's at $138-188 million each (see above)
Boeing Order page - http://active.boeing.com/commercial/orders/index.cfm
Boeing Price page - http://www.boeing.com/commercial/prices/index.html
Forgive any typo's or error's, it's late heh.
1. The engines (GE90's) have nearly 40% of the parts made in France by SNECMA.
2. The 777 offers more space for premium seating than on the A340.
3. The 777 has lived up to the range promises of Boeing. That's why Air France could place additional follow-on orders for the 777-300ER soon.
Airbust didn't beat Boeing in 2005 either. Early this year, it came out that Airbust had counted orders for Chinese airlines that have never been finalized.
This just can't be.........after all these are the Euroweens and we hear every day how every G-D thing they do is right and perfect and we must learn from them..........right?
Actually it exceeded the range promise, and it has a much better CASM. It has more cabin width and better cross section that doesn't crowd passengers in window seats. The 777-300ER can carry the same number of passengers farther, faster, and with less fuel than an A340-600 while at the same time carrying much more freight.
Oh my, time for the French and German governments to whip out the checkbooks.
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