The world's two giant planemakers will be facing off at the Paris Air Show opening Monday, with US champion Boeing determined to wrest back the world title won from it by European upstart Airbus. For the past two years Airbus, 80 percent owned by the Franco-German European Aeronautic and Defence Company and 20 percent by Britain's BAE Systems, has outsold Boeing.
But even before the rivals arrive in Paris for the show, Airbus is showing signs of faltering. It announced recently that deliveries of its superjumbo A380 would be delayed by up to six months.
Then it put off for several months the launch of its A350, the defensive competitor to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner which is already notching up a healthy list of orders.
And Washington is playing hardball over the A350's financing, taking a complaint to the World Trade Organisation over what it claims are illegal state subsidies. The European Union filed a competing complaint on Airbus's behalf, and the WTO is to begin looking at them Monday.
For the first time since 2000 Boeing's order book is fatter than that of Airbus, thanks to the 787, Boeing's first new model for 10 years, due to enter service in 2008. Last year Airbus outstripped Boeing orders 370 to 277.
The 787, with 250 seats, has already attracted 266 firm orders and options from carriers seduced by its fuel efficiency.
Airbus plans to strike back with the A350, a technologically advanced version of the A330 due to enter service in 2010.
But it has only won 10 orders so far and the launch, originally due to be announced at the airshow, has been delayed until September.
The battle will also be fought over "jumbos" and "superjumbos". Airbus will be showing off the A380 at the airshow, entering a market where Boeing has had a monopoly for 30 years with its 747.
The two-deck, four-engine A380 has already attracted 144 firm orders and 10 options. Airbus was expected to announce new orders at the show.
Boeing says that the market for the plane is not big enough. Nonetheless it is considering an extended version of its 747.
According to Thomas Pickering, senior vice president of international relations at Boeing, the 747 Advanced could carry 450 passengers. But he drew a distinction between big and superbig aircraft, the latter occupying a "niche market."
Boeing will also be showing its 777-200 LR, the latest version of its successful 777, with the longest civil aircraft range in the world at 17,450 kilometres (10,840 miles).
It is due to enter service in 2006. By contrast, the Airbus A340-550 has a range of 16,600 kilometres (10,315 miles).
The two rivals have one thing in common: doubts about their heads. Airbus is still waiting see who will succeed chief executive Noel Forgeard, an appointment blocked by quarrels between French and German partners in EADS.
Boeing is looking for a successor to Harry Stonecipher, its CEO forced out for having had a "personal relationship" with a female executive in the company.
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