Airbus A380 vs. Boeing 787
Poll reveals that passengers prefer a smaller plane
Executives at Airbus and Boeing believe that their new planes will soar, but what if it was strictly up to passengers to decide?
On May 14, 2001, Time Magazine featured an article titled "Bigger vs. Faster: Airbus and Boeing are betting on very different visions of the future of flying." As the name suggests, the article briefly describes how the two commercial airplane-manufacturing giants took divergent paths in their battle to engineer the optimal airliner for the start of the new century.
Airbus, on the one hand, proposed to design, manufacture, and sell the largest civil aircraft ever offered on the market-the 500-plus-seat, four-engine, double-decker, A380. Meanwhile, Boeing responded with a design that favored speed over size. After failed attempts to find buyers for a stretched version of its popular 747, Boeing put its money on "The Sonic Cruiser," an aircraft that was meant to fly just below the speed of sound.
Boeing's plans for the Sonic Cruiser died, however, as it became clear that airlines preferred an aircraft with lower operating costs, rather than one with a marginal increase in speed. With that in mind, Boeing went back to the drawing board and came up with another mid-size plane, designed for point-to-point connections, that was more fuel-efficient than the Sonic Cruiser.
The 787, as it was later called, received a warm reception among airlines around the world in the form of 237 orders and commitments during the first year of sales, making it the fastest ever selling airliner upon launch.
Prior to announcing their plans to develop the 787 and A380, respectively, analysts from Boeing and Airbus studied the market to try and determine what kind of plane would best meet future demand in the airline industry. Airbus concluded that the growth of large cities would support hub-to-hub travel, making the A380 a perfect fit. The enormous plane can also carry more passengers without increasing "air traffic movements," the company argues.
Boeing claims that new airports or airport extensions in smaller cities will stimulate demand for mid-size jets like the 787. The company also believes that passengers place a premium on schedule convenience, or having the opportunity to choose from an increased number of direct flights, which the 787 will facilitate.
In assessing demand, perhaps analysts from both companies should have simply asked passengers on what kind of plane they'd prefer to fly. It turns out that Harris Interactive, a worldwide market research and consulting firm, did just that and the results swing strongly in Boeing's favor.
The group conducted a survey of 913 international air travelers in the United Kingdom, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, who had recently taken a flight that was eight hours or longer, to assess whether travelers prefer smaller planes (250-seaters like the 787) or larger planes (550-plus-seaters like the A380) for long-haul flights. Those surveyed overwhelmingly favored smaller planes.
The poll revealed that 80%, 81%, and 78% percent of Economy Leisure Travelers surveyed in the U.K., Hong Kong, and Tokyo, respectively, preferred a non-stop flight on the 250-seater, rather than having a one-stop connection with the larger aircraft. For non-stop flights, more than 60% of those surveyed said that they would prefer a single-deck, 250-passenger plane, to a double-deck, 550-passenger plane.
In addition to "convenience" and "flexibility," passengers in all of the regions surveyed said that a smaller plane would make life less chaotic when it comes to check-in, boarding, disembarking, baggage claim, and customs/immigration, compared to a 550-seater.
