Mirror mirror on the wall
Airbus vs Boeing: as the transatlantic spat escalates, the body count grows and so do the recriminations. What's next as the Airbus A380 delivery delays grind on? Here's David and Goliath.

A380 double-decker in flight

ONE IS BIG AND FAT with all the polish of a portly dowager. Critics describe her as a “dinosaur”. The other is sleek and quick, and capable of long outings, but derided as incontrovertibly “plastic”. Who would you pick for a snog or, in this case, a transpacific flight? With the much-touted rollout of the Airbus A-380 behemoth, the gloves have come off as Boeing cries foul and prepares for the arrival of its very own B-787 “Dreamliner”.

What’s the fuss? Airbus has opted for a super aeroplane that will render the stalwart B-747 all but obsolete, transporting a vast scrum of bodies in one neat package. While offering 49 percent more room than a Boeing 747, the Airbus 380’s operating costs are cited at around 15 to 20 percent lower per seat. Add to this claims of fewer emissions, less noise, and a seat capacity stretching from the median 555 to a staggering 800 (double the heaving bottoms on a B747), and it’s small wonder airline accountants are beaming. Airbus claims its plane is more fuel efficient than a car.

But the dinosaur is late. Very late. Singapore Airlines, the launch customer will now hopefully receive its first Airbus A-380 in the fourth quarter of 2007, a full year behind schedule leading to question marks regarding customer loyalty, final orders, and price reductions as compensation. Qantas is harder hit. The Australian national carrier may only start receiving its aircraft in August 2008, two years off the original delivery date. Emirates may scale down its order, Virgin has announced holding back its purchase of six A380s for four years until 2013, FedEx has cancelled its order of 10 Airbus A380 aircraft, opting instead for the Boeing 777 freighter version, and UPS has placed its order on hold.

The new, and larger, Airbus wing design ensures future versions of the aircraft can handle a total weight of up to 750 tons. This means the US$280m A380 will achieve optimum cost-efficiency carrying closer to 800 passengers. That’s a lot of beers and queues for the toilets – on two floors. Not perhaps what passengers want to hear. Assembly is a major production, one dogged by technical glitches, the latest being wiring delays as the aircraft carries hundreds of kilometres of wire that have to be painstakingly fed to various parts of the frame.

The A380 is a space guzzler - it needs more runway, more apron for its giant wing span, and redesigned boarding gates

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

The A380 had hoped to commence service in 2006 with Singapore Airlines but delivery delays have cast a pall on this and other orders. Airports everywhere are quailing at the prospect. Heathrow’s Terminal Three will need to undergo expensive redesign to accommodate the Airbus A380 and Emirates has already begun using oversized ground equipment in Dubai to be in readiness for its own delivery. The new Airbus is a space guzzler. It needs more runway to clear the ground, more taxiway for the sweep of its enormous 79m wingspan, and boarding gates need rejigging to deal with the logistics of deplaning 800 people from a towering double-decker.

Boeing sensibly believes large capacity aircraft flying to big, overcrowded, dispersal “hubs” are passé. Travellers want speed and direct connections. The B787 Dreamliner (formerly the B7E7) is the result of Boeing’s new preoccupation. The aircraft is swift and fuel efficient, with a cruising speed of Mach 0.85. It is smaller and can access regional airports without fuss. It also has a range that can extend to 16,000km carrying about 280 passengers. The good news for passengers is the B-787 is pressurised for a lower altitude and with higher cabin humidity. The catch is, the plane will not be certified and delivered until 2008 and its test flights commence only in 2007. With the myriad Airbus delays, Boeing’s Small Wet Dream proceeds apace, gathering momentum. Rival Airbus, once busy gobbling up orders, is in the wings red-faced. And, keenly aware that Boeing may be onto something, it is also working on a smaller, more fuel-efficient A350 to compete head-to-head with the B787. Boeing may yet have the last laugh. Qantas has committed a potential US$18 billion for up to 115 of the sleek B787s with the first 65 coming on line from 2008.

The B787 has opted for a sweeping archways design and light diodes in the ceiling that mimic the changing sky colours

A-380 roomy interior and flat bed

But do you need to fly a football field halfway across the world? Virgin Atlantic, Air France, Lufthansa, Thai Airways International, Malaysia Airlines, Korean, Etihad and China Southern, among others, believe so. Some will put in gyms, bars, casinos, shops, offices and even play areas – but not for the Mile High Club, whose members will have to fend for themselves in vast open spaces. The coliseum has failed to materialise, disappointing those who would love to toss all airline chefs to the lions, Christian or not. And while a lot of seats can be crammed into an A380, not all airlines plan to do so.

The Boeing 787 cabin will offer a visually relaxing “sweeping archways” design, window shades whose opacity can be altered at the flick of a button, greater humidification of cabin air, and a sky simulation effect through the use of colour changing light-emitting diodes in the aircraft ceiling. Aisles will be wider as will the seats.

It is more than likely that there is a market for both products. But the transatlantic diatribe continues to escalate. Boeing asserts Airbus has competed, unfairly, through backdoor European subsidies. Yet, Boeing itself has been a major beneficiary of state and federal aid with Washington State bending over backwards to ensure the B-787 plant stays with them. Much of Boeing’s aircraft design has been a spin-off from US military-sponsored research.

Airbus is also coming out with a mid-size competitor, the A350. The aircraft is currently mired in a major redesign debate after several potential buyers felt it compared poorly with the B787. As a consequence, the A-350 roll-out will also be delayed, giving Boeing a certain headstart in the mid-size market. The new Airbus A350 will eventually weigh in with a wider fuselage and expanded wing size. The A350 XWB (or extra wide body) as it will be termed, will extend the flight range to around 8,500 nautical miles. It will roll out in three versions, the A350-800, the A350-900 and the A350-1000, that will seat from 270 to 375 passengers. Airbus says this will be one of the "quietest" aircraft, with low emissions and 30 percent more fuel efficiency.

By 1949, Boeing 377 Stratocruisers were plying the North Atlantic with opulent living rooms for first class

Boeing 787 Interiors: Modern archways

Was big always beautiful? The prodigious and spectacularly ill-starred 12-engine Dornier Do-X was the world’s biggest aircraft in 1929, its hull accommodating a full three floors. The Wall Street crash ended its career despite a problem-plagued round-the-world PR stunt that took ten months to accomplish, achieving little in the end. By 1949, double-decker Boeing 377 Stratocruisers were plying the North Atlantic with opulent digs, and even living rooms, for first class passengers. No flat seat hype then. The B377 used real beds. And there was the memorable Howard Hughes “Spruce Goose” (H4 Hercules) that took to the skies, briefly, in 1947. This extraordinary flying boat arrived too late to aid in the war effort – its prime purpose – and was relegated to museum attraction.

Barring the hugely successful B747, aviation history has not been kind to passenger aircraft behemoths. Now, once again, we shall have to wait and see.