Airbus Muddies Up Boeing's 747-8 Introduction (BA, EADSY)

When the Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) took the wraps off its new 747-8 Intercontinental last Sunday, the company harked back to the introduction of the first 747 some 42 years ago in 1968. Perhaps taking a cue from the comparison, Airbus maker EADS (OTC: EADSY) has challenged Boeing’s plan to seek a waiver on emergency evacuation tests for the new plane based on tests run four decades ago on the original 747.

The 747-8 can carry 51 more passengers and the body of the new plane is longer than the original 747. Airbus’s COO wants the US Federal Aviation Administration to require Boeing to run the passenger evacuation tests on the new plane. “I intend to fly in that airplane one of these days and I’d like to know you can get out of it,” John Leahy told Bloomberg.

This could be just gamesmanship, of course, but Leahy has a point. The passenger evacuation test requires that the plane be loaded with its maximum number of passengers and crew, and then have everyone get off the plane, in the dark, while some of the doors are closed. A new, longer plane with a different cabin configuration probably ought to be made to run the evacuation test.

The first test flight of the 747-8 is scheduled for March, and it might make sense to run the evacuation test before then. Boeing would rather not run the test at all. What if something goes awry? The plane is already way behind schedule.

To make matters worse for Boeing, orders for the passenger version of the 747-8 have been slow, with just 33 planes currently on order for delivery beginning late in 2011. There are 74 freighter versions of the plane already on order. The base price for the plane is $317.5 million.

Boeing and Airbus have just submitted final bids on a new contract for a US Air Force refueling tanker that could be worth more than $35 billion to the winner. The two companies are also competing for the smaller, mid-size aircraft market, with Airbus’s new version of its A320 and Boeing trying to decide whether to upgrade its workhorse 737 or to redesign the plane completely. [https://a673b.bigscoots-temp.com/2011/01/26/boeing-considering-replacement-for-737-ba-luv/]

It’s reasonable to expect the FAA to deny Boeing’s request for a waiver on the evacuation test, especially now that Airbus has raised the issue publicly. This is not the biggest problem Boeing has this year, but Airbus has made sure that it will be a thorn in Boeing’s side for a while at least.

Paul Ausick