PLANE-MAKER’S RACE TO THE FINISH LINE

The heavy widebody sector, that Airbus plans to enter, is currently dominated by Boeing’s 777F and 747-8F. In order to successfully launch their A350 freighters, Airbus will need to hit a massive target of selling at least 150 aircrafts based on their -1000 variant. Earlier this year, although Qatar Airways expressed their interest in acquiring A350 freighters, the platemakers will need another logistics giant to help with their target of 150 aircrafts. To grab the first movers advantage over Boeing, Airbus will have to deliver the A350F by 2025 as Boeing’s similar freighter variant is forecasted to arrive by 2028. With Boeing’s current widebody aircrafts, it took about 12 years to complete 209 examples. Only time will tell if Airbus’s new technology will be able to cut-down this difference in time.

Summary by Tejaswi Khanna

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