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Boeing steels [lol] further march on Airbus
Lufthansa this week became the first airline to buy the passenger version of the 747-800, ordering 20 and taking options on a further 20. Airbus had dismissed the potential market for the plane which can seat 450 compared with its own 555-seater A380 superjumbo. Randy Baseler, head of marketing at Boeing Commercial Aircraft, said the airlines in talks could decide to replace their 747 fleet with the new version over the next 12 months. British Airways, which has eschewed the A380, is a traditional jumbo customer. "We would expect that, now that Lufthansa has signed up, others will feel more urgency to get into the front line of production," Mr Baseler said. He sees a market for 325 stretched 747s over the next 20 years. It has won 68 firm orders so far, including 48 freight versions. Boeing has won more than 850 orders this year compared with 635 for Airbus which has been hit by two-year delays to its A380 and has only just decided to go ahead with a new A350 mid-sized, long-haul jet to rival Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. The A350 will enter service in 2013 or five years behind the 787. Airbus took some comfort from Lufthansa's decision to order seven more A340 jets. The plane has been widely written off because of high fuel consumption. The new 747s will use leaner engines developed by Rolls-Royce and GE. Posted by: .com 2006-12-08 |
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| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=174331 |