NEWS: Boeing Wins $2.6bn China Order

Boeing have landed a $2.6bn contract to supply China Southern Airlines and its Xiamen Airlines subsidiary with 12 Boeing 737-700s and 33 737-800s, 15 of which are earmarked for Xiamen Airlines. Boeing is competing with Europe's Airbus for Chinese contracts ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.



Well it seems that Airbus have been outgunned so far in the Asian market....Or maybe not.

In April, Airbus announced that three Chinese airlines had signed contracts for the purchase of 30 Airbuses.
These include China Southern Airlines, which has ordered five A380 superjumbos, while China Eastern Airlines has ordered five A319s, 11 A321s and four A320s.
Shenzhen Airlines has signed with China Aviation Supplies Import & Export Group and Airbus for three A320s and two A319s.

Boeing may have beaten Airbus to begin with, but wait till the A380 really takes off! Could Boeing's stranglehold on the aviation world finally be coming to an end.

Boeing has always had strong ties to China, in the past, so I'm not surprised Chinese airlines are going with what they know. When I was contracting to the company, Boeing would go to some incredible lengths for customer service to keep contracts, and provide safety, to protect themselves and their clients. I don't know if Airbus tries that hard.


Besides, a Boeing delivery goes over international waters and can bypass any nations before reaching Chinese soil. Same with ship-borne delvieries. Any Airbus delivery has to cross through the airspace of many nations, no matter what, or be freighted through many national borders.

And let's not forget spare parts. 737 deriviatives and parts are everywhere, and so are trained mechanics on these airframes. No need to rely exclusively on EU supplied expertiese and parts. Sometimes new and bigger isn't the best thing to be, or sell.

[edit on 11-5-2005 by Phugedaboudet]