Is Airbus A Serious Competitor?

Aero-News Analysis By ANN Senior Editor Pete Combs

Let me ask you... do you honestly think Airbus can really outfly Boeing in the upcoming Air Force tanker competition? After all, the Boeing KC-135 (below) is an icon... a staple in American military aviation. So would it gall you if a tanker from the land of DeGaulle took its place? How real is the possibility?

Okay... enough of 20 questions. The point is, Airbus appears for all the world to be deadly serious in this competition, which should be decided sometime next year.

Airbus does have some hardships to overcome. As the Seattle Post-Intelligencer points out, Boeing has been making tankers for the better part of 75 years, whereas Airbus is a relative newcomer. Boeing is also the home team -- and there are still technology transfer issues out there in the wings.

Airbus hopes to get around the majority of those by teaming up with another home team... Northrop-Grumman. There's the jobs card -- and here, both companies can play it. Boeing can say the $20 billion deal will preserve jobs on the 767 line, which is now operating at about half the capacity of its heyday, thanks to the 787 ramp-up. Perhaps Boeing can even add some jobs to the line for the length of the tanker contract.

But then, Airbus -- which plans to build a plant in Alabama if it wins the contract for an A330-based tanker (above) -- can say it's not just preserving jobs, but actually bringing them to the US from overseas.

Of course, the elephant in the room is the ongoing trade war between the US and the EU over aircraft manufacturing subsidies. That's an issue we've already seen raised by the Air Force in this competition... and it's certainly not going away.

In this matter, it would seem, Boeing has the advantage. But the worm turns in World Trade Court cases... just like it does everywhere else.

The tanker war, you see, isn't just about planes. And you can bet, when it comes time to pick a winner in the competition... it won't all boil down to whose plane flies the best. 

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.airbus.com