Mar
19
Is Bigger Better? Airbus vs. Boeing
March 19, 2007 | Comments Off
For some things it may. For airplanes, bigger has not proven to be better this time on the battle for next-generation airplane sales between the Airbus 380 and the Boeing 787 as much as it did in earlier days of aviation with the Boeing 747. The Boeing next generation plane has 490 firm orders, while the Airbus 380 has 157 firm orders. (Price of these babies: $300 million USD for the Airbus 380, $150 million USD for the Boeing plane.)Some lessons learned from this business battle:
- Don’t lie about time lines – If your product/service will take a long time to complete, be truthful about it. Customers don’t react well to long time frames, but react worse when you break the promise of delivering by certain time frame (when ether it is your fault or not they still react negatively).
- Flexibility Is Valuable – Airline customers like flexibility: multiple flights. Customers in other industries like it as well. When you have to choose between two flights and one big flight, business customers may go with the airline with two flights because its schedule works better.
- Speed/Time is of the Essence – In the modern world it is not only important to be there, but to be there when you need to be there. And if you can be there in more places where you have to be, even better.
- You Do Not Have To Build The Same Product To Compete – The Airbus 380 and the Boeing 787 are two different animals built for different purposes: but both compete for the same capital allocated for aircraft purchases. Boeing has backup products to compete with the Airbus 380: they keep bringing the 747 legacy with the new Boeing 747-800. Airbus also have backup projects to compete with the Boeing 787, like the new revamped Airbus 350.
Still I admire Airbus for doing the 380. They set themselves a big, hairy, audacious goal and they are have built it and tested it. They have advanced science ahead by a long shot.
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