Airbus : from Challenger to Leader

The Boeing Company designs, develops, manufactures, sells, services, and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight, and launch systems and services worldwide. It operates in five segments: Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Military Aircraft, Network & Space Systems, Global Services & Support, and Boeing Capital. The Commercial Airplanes segment develops, produces, and markets commercial jet aircraft for various passenger and cargo requirements; and provides related support services to the commercial airline industry. This segment also offers aviation services support, aircraft modifications, spare parts, training, maintenance documents, and technical advice to commercial and government customers. The Boeing Military Aircraft segment researches, develops, produces, and modifies manned and unmanned military aircraft, and weapons systems for global strike, vertical lift, and autonomous systems, as well as mobility, surveillance, and engagement. The Network & Space Systems segment researches, develops, produces, and modifies strategic defense and intelligence systems, satellite systems, and space exploration products.

Airbus was planning to introduce the A380 in direct competition to Boeing 747 to compete in the large aircraft sector. The rivalry between Airbus and Boeing was already intense. Boeing’s market share reduced from 70% in 1974 to 45% in 1990 while Airbus’s market share had increased from 1% to 34% during the same time (Exhibit 5). Encouraged by this increase in market share, Airbus was contemplating the introduction of A380. Development of new product line is extremely expensive in the Aircraft sector. Following is a quantitative analysis of the project to calculate the risks involved in introducing a new line of Aircrafts.

Having the Government subsidize Airbus’s development phase gave Airbus company a great advantage (Lawrence, 2008). Airbus at the time also had the advantage in terms of technology. The fly by wire technology had been in use for some time in the Airbus A320. The two new models; A330 and A340; also used this technology. Boeing had yet to produce a fly by wire system (Richards, 1990).

Boeing pursues Product Differentiation strategy in order to create competitive advantage over Airbus. Boeing differentiates its products by increasing number of seating capacity, engine capacity, innovating new winglet designs and by manufacturing wide range of products in respect to the change in market

Given the competitive dynamics in the commercial aircraft industry, it is not likely that Airbus could have become a viable competitor without subsidies. These dynamics include investment costs in the billions for research and development of a new airliner, long break-even times, significant experience curve on the manufacturing side, and the highly volatile demand for aircraft. Due to a lack of market share, if Airbus entered the market without this support they would have suffered many years of losses resulting in a possible bankruptcy. However, Airbus credits its success to a good product and a good strategy instead of

This comprises the main reason why Airbus is interested in building the A3XX. It attempts to create a dominant design that the market for large planes may pledge allegiance to, moving from simply product innovations to process improvements for the VLA. It does intend to just replicate the 747s and achieve a jumbo jet with the same capabilities. Rather, it aims to increase the seating capacity and reduce costs for the operators by so much more than what Boeing’s alleged monopoly holds, with the objective of seizing the market

Looking at the brief history of Boeing, the company was first founded in Puget Sound, Washington in 1916 by William Edward Boeing.

American airline industry is steadily growing at an extremely strong rate. This growth comes with a number economic and social advantage. This contributes a great deal to the international inventory. The US airline industry is a major economic aspect in both the outcome on other related industries like tourism and manufacturing of aircraft and its own terms of operation. The airline industry is receiving massive media attention unlike other industries through participating and making of government policies. As Hoffman and Bateson (2011) show the major competitors include Southwest Airlines, Delta Airline, and United Airline.

In 2000, Airbus Industrie’s Supervisory Board was making the biggest decision in the company history: whether Airbus should commit to develop world’s largest jumbo jet. At that time, there are only two major commercial jets manufactory companies: the younger Airbus and the bigger Boeing. Boeing had been at the forefront of civil aviation for over half century. Airbus was founded in 1970as a consortium and merged into a new company known as European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company. Airbus developed “fly-by-wire” technology and “cross crew qualification” technology to compete with Boeing in large jets (those with 70 or more seats) market. While Airbus was booked more than

Market Share Airbus will launch their new large, long distance plane A380 in 2006. This plane can be a dreadful competitive product to Boeing. If Boeing falls behind regarding innovations, fuel efficiency and other attributes of a long haul airliner, it will soon lose its market share. In order for Boeing to compete in the aviation industry, it is crucial to take on some risk and develop this new 7E7 project. This helps the company to fight against its competitors and recover from the slump in the industry.

1.) In early 2003, Boeing announced plans to design and sell an airliner named the 7E7. Boeing aimed for the 7E7 to be more fuel efficient, carry between 200 and 250 passengers, able to accomplish both domestic and international flights, as well as be 10% cheaper to operate than Airbus’s A330-200 aircraft. All of these attributes were attractive to Boeing but would come at significant costs. To accomplish these attributes, Boeing proposed to construct the aircraft

In addition, Airbus has received over half of the total large aircraft orders for the first time in 1999 thanks to the “cross crew qualification” feature. Capturing more than half of the very large aircraft (VLA) market with the A3XX would constitute an

Nevertheless, as Boeing gears up for its all-new 7E7 airliner, arch rival Airbus may already be putting 7E7 orders at risk by talking to airlines about a similar plane. Airbus is viewed a having advanced technologies coupled with a conglomerate backing and Boeing has not come up with any new innovative ideas in the last ten

The following analysis identifies the major strategic issues of Airbus and its industry, provides alternatives and a recommendation of the most optimal solution, and details a plan of implementation for the company.

The Boeing Company's defense business has been growing steadily over the past few years. Revenues from the integrated defense system grew from $27,361 million in 2003 to $30,791 million in 2005. The defense business accounts for over 55% of the company's revenues. Continued strong performance of this division of the Boeing Company would counter any downturn in the commercial aircraft industry (DATAMONITOR).