BATTLE OF THE NARROWBODIES
Forget Dreamliners and super jumbos. The struggle for supremacy between Boeing and Airbus depends on two small jets that make no headlines yet have come to dominate air travel.
Tomorrow, Boeing's newly-built 787 Dreamliner will be put on public display for the very first time. The 787 is a big plane, yet rival plane maker Airbus has gone gigantic with its A380 super jumbo. Size seems to matter in the battle between Boeing and Airbus.
Or does it? Long-range wide-body planes like these two might hog the headlines. But the market which matters most to Boeing and Airbus is that for smaller narrowbodies - humdrum every day jets which take you on shorter, less exotic journeys. Narrowbodies lack the glamour of their bigger brothers and they are not as profitable to build. But they sell in much greater numbers.
The Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320 are the protagonists in the transatlantic battle for control of the narrowbody market. If each company's future depends on a single plane, it is one of these two.
The first of the two to fly, 40 years ago no less, was the Boeing 737. At that time it did not look like a challenger for market domination. Competing designs by other companies had beaten it to the market. And most airlines rejected Boeing's offering as too small.
Luckily, Boeing had developed a lengthened version with more seats. This one sold. In successive variants the 737 has gone on selling to this very day. Boeing has built more than 5,300 of the type over the past four decades.
The 737 succeeded, its initial hiccup aside, for two reasons. Firstly, it was simply well designed. It was intended to haul 100 people about the sky on short trips as economically as possible. None of its early competitors could beat it at this game.
Secondly, it was highly adaptable. This was a matter of luck, but it would prove vital. Boeing gave the 737 six-abreast seating - one more than its competitors. Five abreast is actually better for a small plane, but Boeing wanted to standardise on the same cabin width as its earlier models.
Years passed, air travel boomed, and airlines demanded planes with more and more capacity. That extra seat in each row made it easier to meet the need by stretching the 737's cabin. Boeing would eventually develop its little 100-seat short-hauler into a 200-seater with transcontinental range. None of the 737's competitors was so adaptable.
Those competitors gave a good account of themselves. But as the 1980s wore on they began to look more and more like yesterday's planes. It seemed as if Boeing would have the narrowbody market all to itself - until Airbus entered the field.
Airbus had been formed in 1970 as a consortium of European aircraft makers. It had already developed a moderately successful pair of widebody types. But it would remain a minor player in the industry unless it could break into the narrowbody market. However, its founding firms had their own separate narrowbody projects and it took a decade before they agreed to work on a common design.
That design was the A320. And it turned out to be a winner.
It had six-abreast seating like the 737, but it had a roomier cabin. It had more efficient wings. Its flight deck looked like something out of a science fiction movie, with six large display screens in the instrument panel and a little sidestick for the pilot instead of the traditional control yoke. That sidestick was not connected to pulleys and cables but to a computer which controlled the plane according to the pilot's movements. This meant that the aircraft could be programmed not to obey pilot actions which would put it at risk.
The A320 first flew in 1987 and it rapidly took the market share away from the 737. The A320 and its derivatives - the shortened A319 and stretched A321 - won over many airlines, even in the US which had previously been solid Boeing territory. Suddenly it was the 737 which began to look like yesterday's plane.
But Boeing fought back by launching a new generation of 737 variants. They were rebuilt from the ground up with new wings, new engines and an electronic cockpit. Entering production in 1997, the new series brought the 737 back on par with the A320 family - no mean feat considering that the basic 737 design was then 30 years old.
Airbus has won the narrowbody battle in Malta: although Air Malta uses both types, it is gradually converting to an all-Airbus fleet. Worldwide, however, the two rivals are closely matched and each has its adherents.
The sales advantage swings one way or the other depending on cyclical factors like currency exchange rates. 2006 was the 737's best year ever: It raked up 730 orders compared to 670 for the A320 family. No other planes sell in anything like such numbers.
In the same year the best selling widebody model, Boeing's still-to-fly 787 Dreamliner, got just 160 orders. Narrowbody sales revenue is the bedrock on which each company's current projects are founded.
The 737 and A320 have become mainstays of airlines around the world. If you've been abroad in recent years, the chances are you flew in one of them. Indeed you may never have flown in any other type. Not bad for a pair of planes most people haven't even heard of.
Or does it? Long-range wide-body planes like these two might hog the headlines. But the market which matters most to Boeing and Airbus is that for smaller narrowbodies - humdrum every day jets which take you on shorter, less exotic journeys. Narrowbodies lack the glamour of their bigger brothers and they are not as profitable to build. But they sell in much greater numbers.
The Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320 are the protagonists in the transatlantic battle for control of the narrowbody market. If each company's future depends on a single plane, it is one of these two.
The first of the two to fly, 40 years ago no less, was the Boeing 737. At that time it did not look like a challenger for market domination. Competing designs by other companies had beaten it to the market. And most airlines rejected Boeing's offering as too small.
Luckily, Boeing had developed a lengthened version with more seats. This one sold. In successive variants the 737 has gone on selling to this very day. Boeing has built more than 5,300 of the type over the past four decades.
The 737 succeeded, its initial hiccup aside, for two reasons. Firstly, it was simply well designed. It was intended to haul 100 people about the sky on short trips as economically as possible. None of its early competitors could beat it at this game.
Secondly, it was highly adaptable. This was a matter of luck, but it would prove vital. Boeing gave the 737 six-abreast seating - one more than its competitors. Five abreast is actually better for a small plane, but Boeing wanted to standardise on the same cabin width as its earlier models.
Years passed, air travel boomed, and airlines demanded planes with more and more capacity. That extra seat in each row made it easier to meet the need by stretching the 737's cabin. Boeing would eventually develop its little 100-seat short-hauler into a 200-seater with transcontinental range. None of the 737's competitors was so adaptable.
Those competitors gave a good account of themselves. But as the 1980s wore on they began to look more and more like yesterday's planes. It seemed as if Boeing would have the narrowbody market all to itself - until Airbus entered the field.
Airbus had been formed in 1970 as a consortium of European aircraft makers. It had already developed a moderately successful pair of widebody types. But it would remain a minor player in the industry unless it could break into the narrowbody market. However, its founding firms had their own separate narrowbody projects and it took a decade before they agreed to work on a common design.
That design was the A320. And it turned out to be a winner.
It had six-abreast seating like the 737, but it had a roomier cabin. It had more efficient wings. Its flight deck looked like something out of a science fiction movie, with six large display screens in the instrument panel and a little sidestick for the pilot instead of the traditional control yoke. That sidestick was not connected to pulleys and cables but to a computer which controlled the plane according to the pilot's movements. This meant that the aircraft could be programmed not to obey pilot actions which would put it at risk.
The A320 first flew in 1987 and it rapidly took the market share away from the 737. The A320 and its derivatives - the shortened A319 and stretched A321 - won over many airlines, even in the US which had previously been solid Boeing territory. Suddenly it was the 737 which began to look like yesterday's plane.
But Boeing fought back by launching a new generation of 737 variants. They were rebuilt from the ground up with new wings, new engines and an electronic cockpit. Entering production in 1997, the new series brought the 737 back on par with the A320 family - no mean feat considering that the basic 737 design was then 30 years old.
Airbus has won the narrowbody battle in Malta: although Air Malta uses both types, it is gradually converting to an all-Airbus fleet. Worldwide, however, the two rivals are closely matched and each has its adherents.
The sales advantage swings one way or the other depending on cyclical factors like currency exchange rates. 2006 was the 737's best year ever: It raked up 730 orders compared to 670 for the A320 family. No other planes sell in anything like such numbers.
In the same year the best selling widebody model, Boeing's still-to-fly 787 Dreamliner, got just 160 orders. Narrowbody sales revenue is the bedrock on which each company's current projects are founded.
The 737 and A320 have become mainstays of airlines around the world. If you've been abroad in recent years, the chances are you flew in one of them. Indeed you may never have flown in any other type. Not bad for a pair of planes most people haven't even heard of.