Airbus secured net orders for 1,341 aircraft during 2007, giving the European manufacturer a 48.7% share of the market.

It declared its total at a press briefing in Toulouse today, where it also disclosed that it had delivered 453 aircraft, up by 19 on 2006. Boeing delivered 441 aircraft last year.

Airbus gained net new orders for 1,341 jets, against Boeing’s 1,413, which were distributed as follows:

Airbus net orders:

A380                            23A330/340/350                    405A320 family                     913

Today we read in FI of the A320E, a premeptive strike against Boeing’s 737 replacement. Unlike the case of the 787, Airbus thinks by announcing their plane first it secures first mover advantage. Offering ~5% improvement in fuel burn, this plane is thought (by Mr. Leahy) to demonstrate that any new 737 offering ~10% better fuel burn is not attractive enough. The following chart illustrates where Airbus expects improvements.

Well, its quite a move. Especially after last week. See, the thing is, Airbus is reacting to the yet to be announced 737 replacement. And this does not look good. It looks kind of lame actually. Mr. Leahy made his famously disparaging remarks about the 787 some time ago – before he knew enough about it. He was horribly wrong. This announcement – before the big airshow – seems to be hasty, way too hasty. Is Airbus so badly in need of something to get the A380 and A350/370 off the front pages? No mention of what this will cost and notice too that Airbus is messing here with their best selling product.

Boeing has to do nothing different. It can keep tweaking its current 737 to match anything Airbus can do with the A320. This allows it more time to push the 737 replacement design even further in terms of technology. Airbus, it seems to us, has again played its hand too fast. Can’t they learn to play a better game of poker?

from http://iagblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/a320e.html

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