The unveiling of Boeing’s first new jet in four years will intensify a fight with Airbus for supremacy in an aviation segment that’s flourishing as sales of passenger jets limp through the Covid-19 pandemic. The European planemaker is marketing a freighter based on its A350-1000 jet, attempting to break Boeing’s decades of dominance in a lucrative business.
In addition to Qatar, Boeing is also courting FedEx Corp., Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Singapore Airlines Ltd., and Deutsche Post AG’s DHL unit, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the talks are confidential. While Boeing’s discussions over the new freighter have been known, the details of the official launch, likely at the Dubai Airshow next month, haven’t been reported before.
For Boeing, introducing the 777X freighter will provide a chance to take the offensive after spending the better part of the past three years focusing on quality lapses, management failures, and financial strains brought on by two fatal crashes of the 737 Max jetliner. Wrangling with regulators meanwhile has delayed the commercial debut of the first passenger 777X by at least three years to late 2023.
It’s unusual for a planemaker to sell a freighter variant of a jet before the passenger version has hit the market. Boeing’s move reflects the struggle it faces selling 400-seat planes in a depressed travel market, as well as the threat Airbus’s new aircraft poses to the U.S. company’s cargo franchise.
“Airbus probably thinks Boeing is at a place where it can’t respond,” said aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia of Teal Group. The final Boeing 747 is due to come off the line next year, creating the opportunity for a new plane to inherit the humpback jumbo jet’s mantle atop the air-cargo market.
The planemakers are wooing many of the same customers, giving Qatar Airways and its chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, outsize clout in the increasingly important air-freighter niche.
“We have a requirement for 50 aircraft and we will make a decision soon,” he said on the sidelines of an aviation industry meeting on Oct. 4 in Boston, where he met with executives from both manufacturers. He signaled that a spat over paint-related damage to Qatar’s A350 passenger fleet could hurt Airbus’s cargo-jet marketing.
“If they want to sell any A350s to us, they have to fix the problem they have, for which they don’t have a solution at the moment,” said Al Baker, characteristically blunt.
Qatar Airways is among the largest operators of the current 777 freighter and has been prodding Boeing and Airbus for new models that would meet tough pollution standards that take effect in 2028. A deal with Boeing could include options and rights to convert some of Qatar’s 60 777X passenger jets on order to the cargo version, one of the people said.
While Boeing has revealed few details of the 777X freighter, it will be sized between its two planned passenger versions, said two of the people. An influx of freighter orders would help buoy the twin-aisle jet’s profits until long-range travel recovers from the pandemic later this decade. Company officials declined to comment on customer discussions or their plans to introduce the freighter.
Via Bloomberg
