Airbus Ramps Up Bid for Boeing's 787 Glory

As Boeing prepares a massive media extravaganza to accompany the July 8 public unveiling of its eagerly anticipated and much-ordered 787 Dreamliner, rival Airbus is doing its best to steal the U.S. manufacturer's thunder.

The blitz of announcements of orders and commitments for Airbus aircraft that began at last week's Paris Air Show has continued throughout this week, culminating today in another large commitment -- the 10^th in as many business days -- for the European company's planned A350 XWB widebody airliner. The A350 XWB is Airbus' competitive response to the Dreamliner.

Today Brazilian carrier TAM Linhas Aereas signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for 22 A350 XWBs and for four additional A330-200s. TAM was the launch customer for the originally proposed version of the A350 in Latin America when it signed a contract for 10 aircraft in December 2005.

On Thursday, Airbus announced an order for six A320 narrowbody airliners from Uzbekistan Airways.

The same day, Airbus signed a joint venture contract that will see an assembly line for the European manufacturer's A320 family -- which Airbus claims is the fastest-selling jet airliner family in history, having picked up orders for more than 1,600 aircraft in the last two years alone -- begin operating in Tianjin, China in August 2008. Airbus will own 51 percent of the joint venture and a consortium of three Chinese agencies the remaining 49 percent.

At the joint-venture signing ceremony in Beijing, China confirmed allocation of 86 of the 150 A320-family airliners ordered by the country's main aviation import-export company China Aviation Suppliers Import and Export Group Corp. (CASGC) in October 2006 to five Chinese airlines and to CASGC itself.

On Tuesday, June 26, Qatar Airways committed to two more A320 family-based Airbus Corporate Jetliners (ACJs), adding to the three Airbus ACJ-family aircraft that it already operates. The deal brought sales of the ACJ family (excluding widebodies) this year to 19. Airbus sold 20 ACJ-family aircraft last year.

A day earlier, European low-cost carrier easyJet signed a contract for 35 additional Airbus A319s, taking its total order for the aircraft model to 227. EasyJet's latest batch of A319s will be powered by CFM-56 engines from CFM-International.

TAM's MOU today for 22 A50 XWBs means the carrier has more than doubled its requirement for the aircraft after evaluating Airbus' new proposal for its 787 competitor. The A350 XWB replaced the originally proposed A350, which Airbus had to abandon when several major customers criticized it publicly as being merely a derivative of the existing A330 and not competitive enough with the 787.

The Brazilian carrier already operates 86 Airbus aircraft, including 15 A319s, 61 A320s and 10 A330-200s, and is Airbus' largest customer in Latin America. The airline operates the 10 A330-200 widebodies on its international routes to New York, Miami, London and Paris.

With TAM's endorsement, total firm orders and commitments for the A350 XWB program stand at 254 aircraft (154 firm orders and 100 commitments). Firm orders for the Boeing 787 now stand at 634 aircraft. This means Boeing has booked orders for 380 more 787s to date than Airbus has taken orders and commitments for the A350 XWB.

However, while the A350 XWB is scheduled to enter service in 2013, five years after its U.S. rival, the 787 production line is now basically sold out through 2012. Boeing and Airbus are now basically competing for deliveries of aircraft in 2013 and beyond, perhaps one reason why the A350 XWB has won so many orders and commitments in the last few weeks.

Uzbekistan Airways will use its new A320s to replace older aircraft to reduce its fuel consumption and operating costs. It has yet to choose engines for its A320s, which the airline will operate on both domestic and international routes. They will serve destinations such as Delhi, Amristar and Lahore as part of a route expansion plan.

The carrier now operates scheduled flights to more than 40 cities in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Qatar Airways has yet to announce which engines will power its latest Airbus ACJs. The fast-growing Middle East carrier led off Airbus' huge round of orders at the Paris Air Show by upgrading its previous MOU for 80 A350 XWBs into a firm order and by ordering three more A380 superjumbos.

During the show Airbus booked orders for 425 aircraft from 19 customers and received commitments for another 303 aircraft. The manufacturer announced deals with 27 customers at the Paris Air Show.

This week's deals increase the European company's haul of aircraft deals in the last 10 business days to 797 aircraft, of which 466 are on firm order.

As the week of the Boeing 787's roll-out begins, it will be interesting to see if Airbus will unveil yet more aircraft orders and commitments to take as much gloss off Boeing's massive media coup as it can.

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