Air travel is considered the safest way to travel long distances. Statistically, the journey to the airport is more dangerous for passengers than the flight itself. Statistically.
But when a plane crashes, as happened this week with Air India Flight 171, statistics count for little. Because 269 people died, including 241 of the 242 people on board. It was the first total loss of a Boeing 787-8.
As tragic as such an accident is in human terms, its consequences are also far-reaching economically. Because, apart from cost-effectiveness and environmental acceptability, the most important argument for selling a passenger aircraft is its safety.
Airbus in the lead
The American concern has been a leading player in civil aviation for decades. But in recent years, business has gone downhill, with losses recorded. In 2024, Boeing, with its approximately 170.000 employees, recorded an operating loss of almost eleven billion euros, with revenue of 57,8 billion euros.
At the same time, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has already overtaken the Americans in the passenger aircraft segment. Airbus, headquartered in the Dutch city of Leiden, achieved an operating profit of around five billion euros in the same period, with around 160 employees, and annual turnover of 000 billion euros.
And the data on passenger aircraft deliveries speak for themselves: Europeans are leading and further increasing their lead.
However, the figures for the production and sales of civilian aircraft are only partially representative. Because both concerns are also active in the space sector, and are also weapons manufacturers. This makes comparison and an overall assessment difficult.
Accidents and bad luck
The Air India crash is the latest black spot on Boeing's record. In recent years, the Americans have gone from one mistake to another, had to fix one defect after another, and regularly experienced disasters, such as the one in India.
The best example of an unfortunate trend, especially when compared to Airbus, is the way they handled their largest aircraft: for Airbus, it was the A380, the largest passenger aircraft in the world. Airports around the world had to adapt their infrastructure for this air giant because the terminals and reception capacity were simply not enough.
When it turned out that the A380 was too big for many airlines, Airbus stopped production without much thought in 2021. The plane was too expensive to maintain due to the two additional engines. In addition, it is difficult to sell tickets for planes with such a large number of seats (between 380 and 500 in the A850) and it is often impossible to justify them economically. The idea born before the coronavirus pandemic, which represented a turning point in air travel, no longer worked.
From Dreamliner to nightmare plane
Boeing did things differently. After the company discontinued the legendary 747 jumbo jet because it was no longer modern, they tried to respond to Airbus' A380 and once again offer a competitive long-haul aircraft. So they continued to develop the 767, which gave rise to the new 787, called the "Dreamliner."
But instead of becoming a dream plane (the Dreamliner), the new model turned into a nightmare. Everything that could go wrong with the plane went wrong.
While Airbus almost imperceptibly removed the A380 from its offer, the Dreamliner brought bad news to Boeing: there were problems with new materials and communication with suppliers, test flights had to be canceled several times, the first commercial flights were postponed, and delivery deadlines could not be met.
Eventually, flight bans followed: in 2013, when the first models had already been delivered and in service, two incidents occurred independently of each other. Fires broke out on two aircraft due to battery problems.
Analysts see Boeing's deeper problems in poor management, which followed a cost-cutting model to please shareholders, at the expense of quality.
Dispute over subsidies
The competition between the two aircraft companies has been going on since Airbus was founded in 2000 (then under the name EADS) and is constantly entering new phases. The dispute over market leadership has also involved the World Trade Organization and governments in Washington and Europe.
The main issue of the dispute: which concern receives more government subsidies? Are they justified or not? An almost impossible question, because while in the US only the federal government is involved, in Europe many participate – among others the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany and the European Union.
In addition, both concerns are competitors not only in the field of aircraft production, but also in the space field and, especially, in the arms sector. Although on a global scale they are not among the first: Boeing is the sixth largest arms manufacturer in the world, significantly ahead of Airbus, which does not even enter the "top 10" (13th place). But both companies are certainly "big players".
The problem: as arms manufacturers, they are heavily dependent on government contracts. Governments not only hire them for research and development, they are also their most important customers. In such circumstances, it is almost impossible to precisely quantify subsidies or attribute them to specific business sectors.
Where is the competition?
Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer is limited to small aircraft, while Canadian Bombardier currently operates exclusively in the business jet niche.
But one of the world's largest aircraft markets is China – and there's now a manufacturer there that deserves attention: Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd., or COMAC for short. It was founded in 2008 in Shanghai. The company's founders included the Chinese government.
In 2015, the first C919 model was unveiled – the first twin-engine passenger aircraft assembled entirely in China. In cooperation with the Russian aircraft and military concern OAK, COMAC plans to build a long-range version – the C2028 – by 929. Until then, at least, the civil wide-body aircraft market will remain in the hands of the main players from the US and Europe.
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