BUSINESS: Chinese Airlines Order 60 Boeing Jetliners: Airbus Inks First A380 Sale To China

With plans to have the plane delivered in time for the 2008 Olympic games, China has signed an order to by 60 of the companies new 7E7 Dreamliner aircraft. The 7E7 order, now renamed the 787, will have a list price of 7.2 billion dollars. The announcement comes fresh on he heels of a China Southern order for 5 of the Airbus A380 "superjumbo" aircraft with a total value of 1.4 billion dollars.



Asia and the Middle East will be the battleground for the future of the commercial aviation industry. It will also be the arena in which we will see who's vision of the future of air travel is correct. Boeing is betting on smaller city pairs, while Airbus is aiming for high traffic, slot limited hubs such as Orly, Heathrow, and JFK where large amounts of passengers will then connect to thier ultimate destinations. It also remains to be seen if Boeing will try to make a jumbo with 7E7 features.

[edit on 1/28/05 by FredT]

Both have their place in the market, the Dreamliner holds good cards for flying the longest distances in great comfort, while the airbus is a pricefighter/cattletrain, making medium-long distance trips available to more people. There seems to be room for both planes to co-exist.


Also the chinese plan to buy 23 airbus-320.