the announcement made in june was met with a rather lukewarm response generally. it wasn't written in the papers and there were no comments made from Boeing's PR guy, Randy Baseler, who usually likes to gloat whenever an airline makes a Boeing order.
SIA had a massive Request for Proposal (RFP) in december last year and a lot of people thought that they would make a firm order of at least 50 Boeing aircrafts, including the B777-200LR and B747-8i, leaving no room for any Airbus orders. an order for 20 Boeing aircrafts seemed a little too small, which is the reason behind the lukewarm media response i believe.
for Airbus, the timing of the announcement for the 20 Boeing 787s was not exactly very sweet. it was a time when Airbus was in a slump and facing very bad publicity from the media.
their "former" A350 was harshly criticised by both the ILFC and the SIA CEO for not being competitive enough against its bitter rival, the Boeing 787.
the A380 delays also caused much uproar amongst many airlines and there were threats by several airlines, including SIA, to sue Airbus and even cancel their orders.
EADS was selling off its Airbus' stakes and the price of Airbus' shares in the market dipped significantly.
the SIA order for 20 Boeing 787s was like salt to a wound, or a nail in the coffin for Airbus.
but who would have thought that a month later, the very same airline that nailed Airbus' coffin would be the very same airline that nailed it for Airbus!
a blue-chip carrier like Singapore Airlines endorsing the A350 would mean that many other airlines which are currently considering the Boeing 787 over the Airbus A350 would think twice, even putting the A350 in favour, leading to a sales domino effect for the A350!
very little people saw this order coming. i was pleaing for Singapore Airlines to go with the A350 and had a comment that said "You are nuts! SQ is way to clever to do that."
my heart (hopes) wanted SIA to go with the A350. but my head (logic) knows that SIA will go with the B787. i guess now both my head and heart is completely satisfied.
when SIA ordered the Boeing 787s, it was hardly publicised in the newspaper. now, the order for the Airbus planes is published on the FRONT PAGE of the Straits Times and Airbus truly deserves this extremely positive publicity!
of course, the group of people who really wins are the Changi Airport plane spotters who will soon see Singapore Airlines in a variety of aircrafts other than the usual Boeing 777s that we see today.
i can't wait till the day when i visit Changi Airport to see the A340, A350, A380, B747, B777 and B787 in SIA colors! the A350 in SIA colours will look nothing short of magnificent.
that'll be around 2012, and i'll probably be the first batch of SIA pilots flying these new planes!
i know lots of Boeing cheerleaders who were in glee with Airbus' demise a month ago. well.
"he who has the last laugh, laughs the loudest"
4 comments:
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Excellent post.
I suspect that SI is throwing Airbus a life ring .
They know the 350 is right now a hypothetical airplane, its not clear that Airbus can even bring it off unless they jettison the A380. It's not just money, according to AW&ST Airbus may not have the engineering staff to rescue the A380 and finish the new 350WB design.
But SI and other big airlines certainly want Airbus to stay in business. Their worst nightmare has to be Boeing as a the sole maker of large airliners ten or fifteen years from now.
Ordering a few airplanes now for delivery in the far future is cheap if helps Airbus stay in business.
An American company would never think that far ahead, but I suspect SI does.
hey jim! thank you for your comment!
i would just like to comment on the issue you brought up, that SIA is throwing airbus a life ring in buying the A350.
though it may seem to be the case, i doubt that any profit-motivated organization such as SIA would think about spending hundreds of millions of dollars just to ensure that airbus stays in business. i do not believe that SIA runs a charity organization.
i believe that when SIA chose the A350, they got a very good deal for it and perhaps also because the A350 is truly a capable plane as airbus claims and deserves to be in SIA's fleet.
whether or not the A350 performs as expecation is another issue yet to be seen.
thanks!
wow a friend in Overseas pharmacy just notice me about this because I like to buy in a store in singapur, this is really gonna mess with my diet because i buy a lot of products.
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