The Airbus A380 has the record of being the world's largest passenger airliner compared to the Boeing 747 series by Boeing. The A380 was designed to help airbus stay afloat of the stiff competition in its industry that the American based manufacturer, Boeing, was accelerating with its newer planes and of course, the jumbo jet that had been developed earlier (Esty, 2000). Airbus observed that airlines at that time all over the world required maintaining a smaller fleet by having airplanes that would carry many passengers at a go. However, the production of the A380 has over the years proven to be difficult for airbus with lowering returns as the need to include the latest technology in the planes intensifies (Chia, 2019). Therefore, the ceased production of the A380 series after 2021, unsurprisingly comes as a relief to Airbus (Chia, 2019). The poor business strategy that airbus put in place for the production of the A380 is yet another reason against the design and manufacture of the plane.
Ultimately, the two giant airliners, Boeing and airbus, have scaled up their design and manufacture of the Very Light Aircraft (VLA). The VLA has been designed to drastically reduce the fuel consumption of the aircraft on average by burning less fuel and using lighter materials in their manufacture than they have been in the past. Both the demand and the market size of the VLA have skyrocketed in the last few years with airlines across the globe, turning their attention to the plane models (Research and Markets, 2018). The industry analysts have estimated the global light aircraft market to have $ 3.1 billion in revenue by the year 2022 (Research and Markets, 2018). The introduction of the electric VTOL to the market brings the VLA market closer to its rapid growth as Boeing and airbus rush towards the use of carbon and electrification in the manufacture of the airliners (Research and Markets, 2018). The volatility of the fuel prices is nonetheless an anticipated issue facing the industry in the recent past and the present.
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Boeing has already penetrated the VLA market ahead of airbus with the design and manufacture of aircraft models like the Boeing 787, commonly known as the Dreamliner, and the Boeing 737 max series that have been grounded after faults causing two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia respectively. One of the strategies that Boeing is using to dominate the VLA market over airbus is the subsidization of the costs of their aircraft and thus attracting more airlines to the company (Al-Najjar et al., 2017). Boeing is also ensuring that their VLA flies long-range non-stop. For instance, the Boeing 787-8 can fly more than 15000 kilometers without stopping to refuel. Boeing hence appears to have offered the airlines solutions to their excessive fuel consumption. Boeing has also redesigned its Boeing 747 by introducing the technology used for the Boeing 787-8 to come up with the Boeing 747-8 (Al-Najjar et al., 2017). The aircraft is intended to compete with the Airbus A380 on a Very Large Aircraft basis.
Airbus management has been faced with issues that require urgent attention. Their superjumbo has been canceled, which calls for the design and manufacture of the other aircraft that will attract their customers (Esty, 2000). For instance, the company has introduced the Airbus A380 that is in many ways similar to the Boeing 787-8. Nevertheless, analysts and critics have not hesitated to compare the two aircraft and crowned Boeing, the winner over airbus. At a time when Boeing appears to have been growing in its production, airbus has had to think of ways to redesign their existing aircraft and add the features that were not there during their production. For instance, the airbus A330-900 has been redesigned from the former airbus A330 to reduce fuel consumption and fly a more extended range. Notwithstanding, airbus has to rethink of their production to be competitively ahead of Boeing.
References
Al-Najjar, N., Aoyagi, I., Goldstein, G., Korupp, T., Liu, B., & Singh, S. (2017). Boeing and Airbus: Competitive Strategy in the Very-Large-Aircraft Market. Kellogg School of Management Cases , 1-16.
Chia, O. (2019, February 23). Reasons why the Airbus A380 failed . Retrieved from https://www.slashgear.com/reasons-why-the-airbus-a380-failed-23567003/
Esty, B. (2000). Airbus A3XX: developing the world's largest commercial jet. Harvard Business School. Research and Markets. (2018, August 1). Global Light Aircraft Market 2018 to 2022 -- A $3.1 Billion Market Opportunity by 2022. Retrieved from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-light-aircraft-market-2018-to-2022----a-3-1-billion-market-opportunity-by-2022--300690010.html
