Sir - I read the article "Battle of the big twins" (Flight International, 22-28 November, P16), which contains a number of errors and misleading comments.
The airliners competing for the 300- to 350-seat market are the Airbus Industrie A330 and A340, the Boeing 777-200A, -200B and -300, and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. It follows that a fair comparison of manufacturers' orders should be based on those won by those families of aircraft.
On this "apples-to-apples" basis, the A330/340 family has won 269 firm orders from 39 customers to date, compared with the 777 family's 215 orders from 19 clients and the MD-11's 168 sales from 26 customers. The Airbus family thus retains the lead, with more than 40% of the market and, although the article did not deign to mention it, it still has more than twice as many customers as does the 777.
There is a lack of objectivity in mentioning 777 family options, but not those for the A330/340 and MD-11. Firm orders and options are 387 for the A330/340, 360 for the 777 and 229 for the MD-11. Again, the advantage is with the A330/340.
The article's headline implies that all airliners in this market have two engines. This is not so (as well-informed readers could tell the author) - the A340 has four engines and the MD-11 has three. It also dwells at length, on the relatively few A330 orders, placed in recent years and high-lights the absence of A330 orders in 1994, but is deafeningly silent on the failure of the 777, to win a single order in 1994 and on the 30 firm orders, booked for the A340 in the same period.
In size and range, the A330 is closest to the Boeing 777A, yet, strangely, no attempt is made to analyse the 777A's sales record to date. Surely readers have the right to know that the 777A has also won very few orders - the only recent ones are three in January of this year for All Nippon Airways and seven for Japan Air System in June 1993. In fact, overall, the A330 is the leader, with 121 orders from 15 customers, compared with the 777A's 98 orders from nine clients. It is surprising that Gulf Air, which has just ordered six A330s (to become a new A330 customer), does not rate a mention.
The article also says, that "...the demand [for the 777] from customers is for the aircraft to get bigger still" - strange, given the specific mention of a smaller 777-100 in Singapore Airlines' order announcement. Surely the point is that airlines want families of different sizes and ranges of aircraft to best match traffic to demand on any given route. This is certainly Airbus' belief and is exemplified by the launch of the smaller A330-200 as a complement to today's A330-300. This also appears to be Boeing's strategy.
Contrary to what is published in the article, the A340-8000, a longer-range version of the A340-200, has already been launched and will enter service in 1997.
Finally, although not mentioned, airlines will be pleased to know that studies are being conducted in aircraft larger than today's 747, not only by Boeing but also by Airbus.
ROBERT ALIZART
Vice-President Corporate Communications
Airbus Industrie
Blagnac, France
Airbus Industrie announced the formal launch of the A340-8000 five days after Mr Alizart wrote his letter, ten days after the article to which he refers went to press. No A340 options were listed in the tables, because Airbus Industrie's press office declined to provide them: A330 options were obtained from other sources. The article was an analysis of the Airbus/ Boeing battle, and did not purport to cover other types such as the MD-11. It treated the four-engine A340 and the two-engine A330 as being parts of the same family, as Airbus does. The Gulf Air A330 order was listed in the article. We do not dispute Airbus (or Boeing) figures on airliner sales: both are correct. Airbus has sold more A330/340s than Boeing has sold 777s in total: in the period since Boeing launched its big twin, it has sold more 777s than Airbus has sold A330/340s. Flight International retains its objectivity in all such matters - Editor.
Source: Flight International
