In 1981, the year Airbus SE has announced that it will build one new plane for one time to take it Boeing A company, and the referee of 737 roots.
The narrow body in the United States, which is already used for more than a decade, reshaped the aviation industry by making the shortest cheaper and more profitable ways to work. By 1988, when Airbus began producing it in A320, Boeing built tremendous progress by offering about 1500 of the most perfect books in the form of cigar.
It took the best part of four decades, but Airbus has finally caught: A320 is preparing to overcome its competitor in the United States as the most editor -in -chief commercial aircraft, according to CIIUM. As of early August, Airbus beat the gap to only 20 units, with 12155 shipments A320, according to data. This difference may disappear as soon as possible next month.
“Did anyone expect that time to become the number one – and at high production volumes?” Max Kingsley Jones, head of consulting at Cirium Ascend, wrote about A320 in modern social media mail. “I certainly did not do, nor maybe I did not do” Airbus. ”
The success of the A320 reflects the rise of decades of European maker makers for decades of the emerging manufacturer to the serious competitor, and finally better in Boeing. By the beginning of the first decade of the twentieth century, the annual delivery of the A320 and its derivatives exceeded the 737 family; Total requests managed from the Boeing plane in 2019. But 737 remained stubbornly passed in all ages.
Initially, Airbus faced an arduous battle. The European Planemaker maker, a group of airline manufacturers that were formed in 1970 with the support of European governments, has not yet provided a full plane collection. The fighting hindered everything from the planning of products to manufacturing, and leadership decisions were forced to balance the French and German commercial and political interests.
However, it was clear until then that Airbus needed to be present in the narrow part to establish itself firmly as a Boeing rival. These aircraft are the most widely good category in commercial aircraft, and the city pairs usually connect to shorter roads.
The costs of high fuel and the abolition of restrictions in the American aviation industry in the late 1970s, the European husband’s maker, gave the opening of the executives of the American airline, who were limited to one completely new corridor, according to the date of Airbus written by journalist Nicolas Clark.
To dismantle A320, Airbus has taken some risks. She chose digital controls from the wires that provided weight on traditional hydraulic systems, and gave the pilots a side stick in their right or left hand instead of a central central yoke. The plane also sat on top of the ground from 737 and came with the choice of two motors, giving customers greater flexibility.
Airbus gambling resulted. Today, the A320 and 737 are nearly half of the Jet Jet Jet Global fleet in the service. The A320 success contrasts with strategic errors such as the A380 Beheemoth, which has proven to be short -term because the airlines could not operate the giant plane profitable. Boeing has maintained that smaller aircraft like 787 Dreamliner will get a feature – a predicament that has proven correct.
Read more: Boeing is fighting Airbus gives an opportunity to dominate flights
However, dominance for a long time for the two narrow aircraft raises questions about the vitality of the collapse system that prefers stability in innovation. Both aircraft makers have chosen gradual and repeated changes that pressure their competencies from their custom models, instead of walking on the most expensive road to design an alternative plane from the zero point.
Airbus was the first to introduce new engines to the A320, where the Neo variable turned into a huge blow with airlines that seek to reduce their fuel bill. Under pressure, Boeing followed, but her approach proved a disaster. The Planemaker maker in the United States reached a maximum of 737, as it tied more powerful engines on the low frame of aging on the plane.
He installed an automatic feature to settle the flying called MCAS to help high -wheel drive and balance the plane. Organizers later found that MCAS contributed to two deadly 737 MAX incidents that led to a 20 -month global grounding, starting in 2019.
Recently, Airbus has fallen due to the problems of fuel -saving engines that operate the A320neo. High -tech coatings that allow PraTT & Whitney Turbofans to run at hotter temperatures, forcing airlines clients to send aircraft to obtain additional maintenance, and support for repair and basic stores hundreds of aircraft waiting for inspection and repair.
Read more: The missing contract of the aircraft industry costs thousands of aircraft
With both narrow families near the end of the evolutionary timetable, analysts and investors began to ask about what is the following. For its part, China is seeking to the muscles to the market through the Comac C919 model that has started working in the country, but it has not yet been adopted to fly in Europe or the United States.
Boeing CEO, Kelly Orberg, said in July that the company is working internally towards a plane of the next generation, but it is waiting for engine technology and other factors in place, including restoring cash flow after years of relapses.
He said in the July 29 call: “This is not today and perhaps not tomorrow.”
The most healthy financial of Airbus gives it more flexibility to explore the design leaps. The CEO of Guillaume Faury played with a hydrogen-powered energy plane-which is likely to be with the design of a radical “flying suite” in the mid-thirties of the twentieth century, but since the efforts made to focus on the traditional A320 successor.
Toulouse, France in France, is considering an open trainee engine that will provide fuel through its structure instead of the current jet turbines that drive the limits of physics to achieve gains.
Speaking at the Paris Air Show in June, Faury called “a very old platform” and confirmed plans to launch a successor by the end of this contract, with the introduction of service in the mid -thirties.
“I have a lot of focus on preparing this next generation of the individual corridor,” said Fawry. “We are very fixed and very committed to this.”
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