Top executives at US aerospace giant Boeing say the latest developments in the industry have vindicated their strategy against European rival Airbus.
Boeing, which has been betting heavily on its new mid-size, long-range 787 "Dreamliner" jet, appears poised to catch or overtake its European counterpart in the civil aviation marketplace.
"This is where Airbus and Boeing have differences: not so much on the number of people traveling, but how airlines will accommodate passengers," Randy Baseler, vice-president of marketing at Boeing, told a recent gathering in the Washington area.
While Airbus has been sputtering in its efforts to bring to market the super-jumbo A380 -- which will be the world's biggest passenger plane -- Boeing has set its sights on smaller, more flexible planes like the 787.
Unlike the A380, which can carry up to 800 passengers, the 787 is designed for 210 to 330 people. Deliveries are set to begin in 2008.
Boeing, which up to now had dominated the jumbojet market with its 747, appears ready to yield that segment to Airbus, suggesting that growth will be elsewhere.
The US firm is planning only one new version of its 747 that can carry more than 500 passengers, the 747-8 "Intercontinental."
"The 747 and larger airplane market is forecast to be about 990 airplanes over the next 20 years," Baseler said.
"About 325 of them will be in the over-500 seat category where the A380 is positioned and about 325 will be in the 400-500 seat category where the 747-8 Intercontinental is positioned," he said.
Baseler said Boeing's forecast is far different from that of Airbus, which sees a market of up to 1,250 super-jumbos.
"As a result, Airbus has been putting all of their resources into the A380, leaving a 200-seat gap between the much larger 350-and 550-seat market segments," he said.
Another forecast disparity exists in the 200 to 300-seat category.
"Boeing forecasts significantly more airplanes than our competitor to serve this market," the Boeing executive said.
"This is based on our conviction that passengers want to fly where they want to go, when they want to go. That is, people want to fly nonstop with more frequency choices," he said.
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