Airbus, Boeing Fight Over 747, A380 Performance Data

[straitman]

Airbus, Boeing Fight Over 747, A380 Performance Data


By Jens Flottau [email protected], Rupa Haria [email protected]
Source: AWIN First

August 06, 2013


Airbus and Boeing are again engaged in a serious dispute over comparative performance figures for the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 747-8.

Following a decision by the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to dismiss an Airbus claim over what the manufacturer considers to be misleading advertising content, John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers, says Boeing’s assumptions behind its performance claims are “as outdated and obsolete as the 747.”

Airbus had initially reacted to the Boeing advertisement in question last year by placing counter-advertising in the trade press showing a 737 “Pinocchio” aircraft, alleging that its competitor was not telling the truth about comparing the 747’s and A380’s performance. Boeing had initially claimed a 26% trip cost advantage for the 747-8 over the A380, as well as 8% better unit costs.

The rest of the story, via the link above, is quite interesting and shows how you can spin data to make it read what you want.

 

[samh004]

Airbus could just counter them with their own ads based on a different method of comparison.

 

[Mak404matt]

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_08_06_2013_p0-604361.xml&p=1Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers, says Boeing’s assumptions behind its performance claims are “as outdated and obsolete as the 747.”

I laughed!

 

[markis10]

Kind of irrelevant since I doubt either will see many more orders, LH is placing an order for 40-60 widebodies in the next 6 weeks, it will go to 777x/A350 or 787, considering they operate both A380 and 748i already I suspect they have it worked out.

 

[jb747]

Kind of irrelevant since I doubt either will see many more orders, LH is placing an order for 40-60 widebodies in the next 6 weeks, it will go to 777x/A350 or 787, considering they operate both A380 and 748i already I suspect they have it worked out.

Well, if we consider roughly equivalent loadings (400 for the 747 and 520 for the 380), and consider empty aircraft weight alone, then the 747 has 475 kgs per passenger, and the 380 has about 550 kgs/pax. No matter how its spun, the A380 is effectively carrying the mass of an empty 40 tonne aircraft around. If it actually weighed what was promised, the numbers would look better.