Airbus acknowledges crisis, will revamp A350
FARNBOROUGH, England — Airbus scrambled to revive its sagging order book and credibility Monday, announcing a costly and ambitious revamp of its troubled A350 program to take on two of rival Boeing Co.’s best-selling jets.
More than three years after Chicago-based Boeing launched its long-range, fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliner, European rival Airbus increased investment in its own mid-sized plane to close to $10 billion.
“This is an entirely new design, without compromise and using all the latest technology,” new Airbus Chief Executive Christian Streiff told reporters on the first day of Britain’s Farnborough Air Show, one of the biggest trade events in the aviation industry.
The previous version of the planned A350 had been billed as a rival to the 787, but had won just 100 firm orders — compared to 360 for the Dreamliner. Airbus also fell behind on total order value last year as its larger A340 jet lost ground to Boeing’s more efficient 777.
The new A350XWB — for “extra-wide body” — will take on both the Dreamliner and the 777.
Airbus’ airline customers had been increasingly vocal about their dissatisfaction with the previous A350 program. The company and its parent, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., suffered a further setback last month when they announced a seven-month delay to the flagship A380 superjumbo.
“Yes, Airbus in the middle of a serious crisis in our relationship with our customers,” Streiff said. “Yes, this is something we are taking extremely seriously inside Airbus, and yes, we know the competition is taking advantage of this today.”
In a surprise setback for Boeing, however, the plane maker appeared to jump the gun on a potential sale of 777s to Qatar Airways.
Boeing put out — and then recalled — a release announcing an order for 20 of the jets valued at $4.9 billion shortly after Qatar canceled a scheduled news conference.
Boeing spokesman Peter Conte later said that the order had been booked for several weeks to an unidentified customer, and that the order books would not be altered. “It’s nothing having to do with the deal. The deal is done,” he said.
But Qatar Airways said no contract had been signed with Boeing and it was in talks with both Boeing and Airbus about orders.
“It’s not over yet,” said Airbus Chief Commercial Officer John Leahy, adding that he was under the impression Qatar Airways was looking to order Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft.
Airbus announced the sale of 10 A320 single-aisle jets to India’s GoAir Monday — a deal worth about $700 million at list prices — and Boeing said Indonesia’s Lion Air had exercised an option to buy an additional 30 737-900 jets, with a catalog value of over $2.2 billion.