Big Old Jet Airliner

Not very long ago, it looked like European airline manufacturer Airbus was trouncing American behemoth Boeing. Now, Airbus is in the midst of a damaging production delay for its huge A380. Launched with fanfare last year, the jumbo plane has always been a gamble. Nobody was certain there was a market for a plane that can carry as many ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.
608202_A380.thumbnail5.jpg
608202_A380.thumbnail5.jpg

Not very long ago, it looked like European airline manufacturer Airbus was trouncing American behemoth Boeing. Now, Airbus is in the midst of a damaging production delay for its huge A380. Launched with fanfare last year, the jumbo plane has always been a gamble. Nobody was certain there was a market for a plane that can carry as many as 800 passengers. Boeing briefly contemplated competing directly but opted instead to push its smaller, quieter and more fuel efficient 787. That aircraft is now selling briskly and it increasingly appears that Boeing's choice was a wise one. It's an odd twist that the American manufacturer is featuring a small, fuel efficient plane while Europe is frantically peddling what amounts to the Escalade of the skies.  

Not very long ago, it looked like European airline manufacturer Airbus was trouncing American behemoth Boeing. Now, Airbus is in the midst of a damaging production delay for its huge A380. Launched with fanfare last year, the jumbo plane has always been a gamble. Nobody was certain there was a market for a plane that can carry as many as 800 passengers. Boeing briefly contemplated competing directly but opted instead to push its smaller, quieter and more fuel efficient 787. That aircraft is now selling briskly and it increasingly appears that Boeing’s choice was a wise one. It’s an odd twist that the American manufacturer is featuring a small, fuel efficient plane while Europe is frantically peddling what amounts to the Escalade of the skies.  

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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