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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The Board Game Part II The A350 On Tour

Airbus has taken off on a World tour with its A350-900 model. Its shortly after announcing the A330 NEO redo. Its all meant to shake attention away from Boeing's 787 family and its 777X project. Fully vetted reporters are reporting the XWB is a full five inches wider than the 787. Its Greener, and its quieter without any data supporting the claim. Statements are being made based on assumption and paid perceptions from selected press members, as it lands in Australia. Still no actual relevance to data supporting a headline other than an XWB can be found in the article. Headlines are then the article or documentation provided. This is my take this morning coming from Australia. I leave it to you to find the information in Australia, because two can play this Board Game.

Its no accident that Airbus is putting on a full on offensive with flanking moves with the A330 NEO announcement followed by the A350-900 world tour. Airbus has no other option, other than counter attack and hope it works.

What will the Boeing Board Do? That in fact is the topic of this blog in Part II.  The answer is found two years ago when Boeing realized it needed to capture back its early 787 announcement offensive lead back in 2004. It needed to recapture the market through rapid production and a shortening of the order Book through delivery. Secondly, it has to stop the glitch bleeding from batteries clear to wing flap actuators and landing gear issues. It employed  an army of techno soldiers flying to and fro with the triage Red Cross painted on its collective briefcases and tool boxes. Mission was accomplished even though glitches still occur with millions on lines of codes and thousands of suppliers seeking a cheaper way of making a Boeing part without inferior quality. The glitch is falling within its target of near 99% reliability as the current 777 models do. Schools Out Summer Offensive (SOSO) has started for Boeing (no pun intended).

The reality is Boeing has kept it nose to the grindstone for its over ambitious advancements, and Airbus has been more secretive and less ambitious for its own aircraft. The have fired a salvo of claims on extra wide, quieter, and more Eco friendly. Notice no mention of window size. However, no real data supports the claim other than 5.1 inches width. Which amounts to 1.25 inches difference on each aisle facing armrest from a nine seat swath. Customers please take a tape measure and measure that value when boarding. Quieter is another reporter's claim who documented his experience as the A350-900 as it flew over head on final approach in Australia. The time of day and humidity really affect sound transmission. At a certain time of day with optimal conditions airplanes come in almost silent. The engines were feathered for effect for the reporters. The Greener tally is how you manage Eco statistics, and no mention of those stats were reported by this reporter other than is more Eco friendly. These are essentially the same engines that Boeing employs on its 787 when fitted with a Rolls Royce engine.

Airbus A350: Greener, quieter and WIDER than its Boeing Dreamliner rival

Expect a part three its in the works.

Moving on with more telling Board Games between Boeing and Airbus.

There are stacks of draw cards in this board game which has not been drawn as of yet. The dreaded Union Card for Board members is one that come to mind. The production mishap card from a VP could be drawn but those cards have been played earlier in Everett and Charleston. Airbus drew a low tech pathway card when they announced the A350 in 2007. Now you know how this board game being played with draw cards and who in holding a hole cards in reserve.

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