Airbus vs Boeing: Who is truly superior?

Since Boeing’s acquisition of McDonnell Douglas in 1995, there have been two major aircraft manufacturers: Airbus and Boeing. Since then, almost everyone has been involved in an Airbus vs Boeing debate at some point. But which is the truly superior aircraft manufacturer?

My aim will be to come up with two answers to the question. Which one do pilots prefer more? Which do av geeks (people who like aviation) like? And which do passengers prefer more?

Naturally, with a topic like this one, there is no clear cut answer, and the answer I give is purely based on my own experiences, and a general consensus from other airline pilots and frequent flyers I know.

But before we can get into which is truly the best, we need to know the history, products and the reasons people think one is superior to the other!

Airbus

Airbus is a multinational, pan-European aircraft manufacturer that was brought together in the early 1970’s. It consolidated many of the larger aircraft manufacturers in Europe into one major aircraft manufacturer in an attempt to compete with Boeing’s supremacy in the aircraft-producing market.

It was originally founded on 18th December 1970 as Groupement d’Intérêt Économique (Economic Interest Group or GIE) by three main countries- the UK, France and West Germany.

Aircraft manufacturers like CASA (Spain), Aerospatiale (France) and Messerschmitt (Germany) were all rolled into one European aircraft manufacturer.

Since then, the aircraft have been produced all over Europe in different parts. For example, the engines and wings are produced in the UK, whereas much of the fuselage is produced in Germany and France.

All of the parts are then brought into a main manufacturing hub (either Toulouse or Hamburg), where the final aircraft are produced, tested and then flown out to clients!

In the beginning, the ownership of the company was split equally between Aerospatiale and German holdings company Arbeitsgemeinschaft Airbus (later on, known as Deutsche Airbus). As more members joined the group,  shares were sold to the main aerospace company of each participating nation.

For example, CASA (Spain) bought 4.2% stake in Airbus in October 1971 and 1979, British Aerospace (BAC) acquired a 20% stake in the company.

In 1967, the group came up with a design that would rival Boeing. The aircraft would come to be known as the A300, and was a successful aircraft, both in Europe and in the US.

In 1999, the group, confusingly reformed itself. Aerospatiale-Mantra (sucessor to Aerospatiale), DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (successor Deutsche Airbus), and CASA all merged into one company. EADS, which would own Airbus France, Airbus Deutschland and Airbus España, and thus 80% of Airbus Industrie.

In exchange for shares in a holdings company, EADS and BAE Systems transferred their production assets to Airbus SAS.

Since then, Airbus has developed several aircraft for military, commercial and civilian use.

In 2019, Airbus finally took Boeing’s title of “largest aircraft manufacturer in the world” due to Airbus fulfilling more deliveries than ever before, and a slump in the deliveries of the 737 MAX, due to it being grounded by the FAA.

Boeing

Boeing is one of the oldest, still-operating aircraft manufacturers on the planet! It was founded in 1916 by William Boeing, a man who was later recognized in the aviation hall of fame, as a pioneer of aviation. William Boeing was a wealthy umber entrepreneur, who was first introduced to flying in 1909, during the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle.

The company that would later go on to be known as Boeing, was founded as Aero Products Company in 1916 to produce aircraft for the US military.

The company’s first aircraft, the B&W Seaplane, which was manufactured between William Boeing and his friend and US Navy engineering lieutenant George Conrad Westervelt, was designed to be used by the US Navy Air Corps during naval skirmishes, however the US Navy was not interested to begin with.

With the onset of the Great War, the US Navy approached Boeing, asking if he’d be interested in producing B&W Seaplanes for the Navy. An offer which he gladly accepted. After that, regular production of aircraft was begun.

The company would go on to, not only produce several major aircraft of its day, but also become a major airline in its own right. (First delivering mail and then delivering paying passengers.)

The two arms of the business were owned by a holdings company: United Aircraft and Transport. However, in 1934, the company was separated under the Sherman Anti-Trust act, for being a monopoly, controlling too many industries.

The holdings company broke into three companies: Pratt and Whitney (which had produced the engines for all Boeing aircraft); United Airlines (yes, that United Airlines) and Boeing Airplane Company.

This breakup broke Boeing, and he retired from the company to breed horses until he died in September 1956.

Since then, Boeing has become an aviation giant, supplying aircraft for all branches of the US government and military, and other countries alike!

They have repeatedly had to innovate for both commercial and military clients.

Through this, Boeing has acquired several other companies, including: Stearman Aerospace, Piasecki Helicopter Corporation and McDonnell Douglas as the most high profile case. In 2020, Boeing also announced a joint aircraft venture with Embraer, which had been speculated for some time.

Between 1995 and 2018, Boeing was the uncontested largest aircraft manufacturer on the planet, until it lost the title to Airbus in 2019, due to a slump in deliveries of its 737 MAX aircraft.

Products

Both Boeing and Airbus products are very competitive with one another. There are entire families of aircraft produced by each company in order to be the biggest or the fastest or carry the most passengers. And ultimately, be the aircraft producer for the most airlines possible.

A380 and 747

The A380 vs 747 showdown has been raging for over fifteen years (ever since Airbus released the A380 to compete directly with the 747 anyway!)

It is essentially a battle between giants, and which giant can win the most amount of airline purchases and passengers carried.

Essentially, Airbus was worried over the dominance of the 747 in the long haul, wide body aircraft market, due to the fact that the 747 is a relatively unique aircraft. Unlike many other long haul widebodies, the 747 gave the airlines a physical separator.

Business class and economy would go on the bottom deck, and first class and the crew would go on the top deck. Literally, the ones with the most money were sat above you!

So, Airbus decided that they would do something much, much more surprising. Instead of making a more efficient, longer or wider airliner that could beat both the fuel efficiency and how many passengers it could carry in contrast with the 747, Airbus went all in.

Airbus decided that they would do two full decks, rather than a full deck and a hump as there is with the 747.

Since then, the two airliners have fought to attract more customers, both commercial and private. With the latter, seemingly only Boeing has been able to win.

A350 and 787

The A350 vs 787 showdown is a continuation of the 747-A380 showdown. The A350 is meant to be the successor of the A380, and the 747 is meant to be the successor to the 747.

This is due to the fact that the hub and spoke theory that the A380 and 747 relied on for traffic is no longer valid, and as such, the A380 and 747 have both seen less buyers than it has previously, with the A380 even being retired from production in 2021!

The A350 and 787 essentially vie for the same role (although Airbus fans would disagree on that judgement). They vie to become the replacement on 747 and A380 routes, as both aircraft are being retired from much of its service.

The 787 is vying to take the place of many A380s and 747s en route to Australia from places like London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle.

Whereas the A350 will attempt to take over flights from London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle etc. to cities on the east coast of the US, such as New York, Miami and Chicago, replacing flights once done by both the 747 and A380.

However, it’s likely that the A350 and 787 will compete on the other’s route, once the bulk of the A380s and 747s are retired from service.

A320 family and 737 family

This is probably one of the more famous Airbus vs Boeing aircraft family rivalries. The 737 is Boeing’s premier short haul jet, serving in some of the world’s largest and most recognizable airlines, such as Qantas, Air Canada and Air France. The 737 is also used by low cost carriers such as Ryanair and Southwest as their primary aircraft.

The A320 is Airbus’ answer to the 737 family. The A320 family also serve some of the world’s largest airlines, including British Airways, United Airlines and Spirit Airways, but also many low cost carriers, such as Vueling, EasyJet and Wizz Air!

Much has been in the media in recent months regarding both families of aircraft. The 737 MAX has had issues with its MCAS system and the two fatal crashes that it had, and the subsequent media coverage after the grounding by the FAA.

The A320 family has been without controversy either, although, this has been much lower key than the MAX has been. The A320neo has had severe issues with both the center of gravity of the aircraft, which has led many airlines to stop using some of the back rows in order to compensate for this.

The A320neo has also had some issues surrounding their Pratt & Whitney engines, due to repeated glitches causing the engines to cut out mid flight.

Currently, both families of aircraft are being used for domestic travel in the US, and short haul routes in the EU. Such as Texas to Chicago O’Hare in the US and London to Barcelona in the EU.

Due to more powerful engines, better fuel efficiency and lighter air frames, the newer members of the A320 and 737 families are being used on longer routes, such as across from coast-to-coast in the US and on routes like London to Turkey in the EU.

In classic “Airbus vs Boeing” debates, the recent blunders of both the MAX and the NEO are brought up.

A300 and 767

The A300 was Airbus’ first aircraft, and the first real sign to Boeing that Airbus would be a manufacturer to keep an eye on in the future. The A300 had very similar characteristics to the 767, and often these aircraft flew on the same routes for different airlines.

Both aircraft were mid-to-long range aircraft, designed to fly transcontinental or over the North Atlantic. The A300 with American Airlines flew mainly transcontinental and international routes such as JFK to MIA and Miami to several Caribbean and northern South American countries.

The 767 on the other hand flew similar routes to the A300 (but usually for different airlines), but also flew routes such as JFK to Seattle and JFK to Paris Charles de Gaulle.

Both airliners were well received by crews, passengers and airlines alike. However, this was not without controversy of its own.

The A300 was notorious for either being too cramped, or too spacious in economy class, some rows had seemingly miles worth of legroom, whilst others seemed to have none! The 767 had no such design issues, but gained a reputation after the September eleventh attacks, for being unsafe.

(Due to the fact that a 767 was used during the event.)

A330 and 777

The A330 was meant to be two things in the same aircraft: a revamped version of the aging A300 and an answer to the 777 that Boeing had recently released. The 777 was designed by Boeing as a way to challenge the L-1011 Tristar.

Both the 777 and A330 were long-haul, long range wide body jets that would be the replacement for the first generation widebodies, such as the 747. They were initally designed as trijets, but once the ETOPS rule was lifted, they were both redesigned as two engine jets.

Whilst the aircraft weren’t designed to compete with the larger widebodies, they were designed to go on the same trips, just from different airports. (This was due to the fact that the aircraft were slightly smaller in size and capacity, so they could land at smaller airports that the 747 couldn’t!)

Currently, the A330 flies mainly West Coast-Pacific routes in the US and routes like Berlin to Dubai or Rome to New Delhi in the EU. The 777 flies from Chicago to Hong Kong and London to Abu Dhabi.

The 777 is generally considered to be one of the safest aircraft that is flying in our skies, by pilots, analysts, passengers and airlines alike. However, the recent controversy of the 777X has dragged the otherwise stellar name of the 777 through the mud a little.

The A330 too is considered to be quite a safe airliner, with there only being one reported case of one crashing, however, the aircraft has been involved in a total of 13 air incidents. (Which is actually quite a good record for an airliner that’s been flying that long!)

Airbus Corporate jets and Boeing Business Jets

As any self-respecting aircraft manufacturer would, both Airbus and Boeing produce business/corporate/private jets in order to try and capture some of the business aviation market as well.

Rather than producing slightly smaller aircraft, as many business jet manufacturers do, Boeing and Airbus simply use their standard commercial jets, and pay a third party company to come in and do all of the interior designing.

These business jets are often designed to be a flying conference room, office and private jet all in one!

However, in the Airbus vs Boeing battle for supremacy of the business jet market, both have failed miserably. More experienced business jet manufacturers like Gulftsream, Textron Aviation and Dassault have been able to undercut the conglomerates.

This is due to the fact that smaller jets are what businesses are after, not large commercial aircraft like the BBJ and ACJ programs offer!

Bombardier and Embraer

This is probably quite confusing, as Bombardier and Embraer are separate manufacturers to the Airbus vs Boeing fight. But, when you think of it, they are as much part of the Airbus vs Boeing fight as Airbus and Boeing are!

This is due to the joint aircraft ventures that both larger aircraft manufacturers have with the two smaller aircraft manufacturers. This is for the A220/CSeries for Airbus and Bombardier (although, Bombardier recently sold their stake in the A220 program) and the as E-Jet and E-Jet 2 for Boeing and Embraer.

Both aircraft too compete on similar style routes: regional short haul routes. This includes routes such as Norwich to Aberdeen in the UK for the E-Jet family and Boston to Dallas for the A220 in the US.

As of yet, there is no clear downsides to both programs, however, the A220 has been plagued by the recent issues surrounding its ownership. Both aircraft continue to compete with one another, and as of yet, there is no clear winner!

Reasons Boeing is better

These are the main reasons that Boeing fans use during a typical “Airbus vs Boeing” debate, although others are surely used in other “Airbus vs Boeing” debates:

• Boeing has produced more recognizable aircraft than Airbus in terms of the sheer number of aircraft, such as the 747, 737, Apache attack helicopter, Chinook and B-29 bomber
• Boeing is aesthetically pleasing, a lot of pilots, passengers and av geeks agree that Boeing aircraft tend to be more aesthetically pleasing when compared to their Airbus counterparts!
• Boeing gives more of a nostalgic feeling of flying, because it’s and older and more experienced manufacturer
• Boeings give pilots a better sense of what the aircraft is going through, most pilots like to know exactly how the aircraft is, in the air. Most pilots agree that Boeing aircraft give that feeling more freely than Airbus aircraft do!
• Boeing’s shareholders trust the company, you’d have thought that after the company’s massive failure with the MAX, that the share price would’ve collapsed for Boeing. Whilst it did, it bounced back incredibly quickly the next day, and after each delay, nothing happens!
• Boeing is an industry leader in innovation, you can argue that Airbus is constantly trying to plug holes left by Boeing, as can be seen in the case of the A380 and 747.
• Boeing aircraft are far safer than Airbus aircraft, despite the recent blunders with the 737 MAX, Boeing aircraft, at least on average, are much safer. Boeing has produced more aircraft than Airbus has, and thus has a higher amount in total, yet on average, it is far lower for Boeing than it is for Airbus!
• Boeing is massive, during classic “Airbus vs Boeing” debates, you can’t deny the fact that Boeing is massive in comparison to Airbus. Boeing’s plants are bigger, their aircraft are bigger, their offices are bigger, even their market cap is bigger!
• Instant pilot control, during classic “Airbus vs Boeing” debates, pilots usually talk about the sometimes over-protective fail safes, and how they can inhibit more than help. They point out that Boeing allows its pilots to make those decisions rather than a computer algorithm!

Reasons Airbus is better

These are the main reasons that Airbus fans use during a typical “Airbus vs Boeing” debate, although others are surely used in other “Airbus vs Boeing” debates:

• Airbus aircraft are far safer than Boeing aircraft, this was an already pre-established fact before the recent MAX incident, but now during classic “Airbus vs Boeing” debates, Airbus fans are bringing up the safety record of the 737 MAX in comparison to the A320 and other Airbus aircraft!
• Ample seat width in economy class, many airlines love to try to squeeze in that extra passenger, with that extra seat, and extra bag in the hold. Airbus aircraft make the especially difficult for airlines to do, which means that economy passengers the world over are (relatively) comfy during their flight!
• Airbus cockpits are more comfortable, Airbus have chosen to use a side stick rather than the massive control column that is in between your legs in a Boeing. This means that a pilot’s leg has more room to move around during the flight on an Airbus when compared to a Boeing
• Better technology inside the cabin, perhaps it’s because Airbus aircraft are generally younger aircraft than their Boeing counterparts, but the technology inside the aircraft, such as the in-flight entertainment system is generally newer and of better quality!
• Controls are more high tech, in classic “Airbus vs Boeing” debates, Airbus fans bring up the fact that Airbus’ systems make it incredibly difficult for human error to cause a crash. These are simply systems Boeing doesn’t use on their aircraft!
• Airbus is more rigid than Boeing, thanks to the fact that Airbus is comprised of several smaller subsidiaries based all over Europe, Airbus has a more rigid corporate structure than Boeing, this allows for greater cohesion on airliners!
• More efficient aircraft, in general, Airbus aircraft are, by only a point of a percent, more efficient than Boeing aircraft. In many “Airbus vs Boeing” debates, Airbus fans will also point out that Airbus invests more in its efficiency-improving category than Boeing does!
• Early adoption of fly by wire. Fly by wire is a truly magnificent piece of hardware, that makes pilot’s lives much easier. During “Airbus vs Boeing” debates, Airbus fans will talk about how Airbus was an early adopter of the technology, where Boeing wasn’t!
• Knows the best time to strike, from a business point of view Airbus is more deadly. When they saw that the 737 MAX was causing them issues, they knew that they needed to act now, in order to capitalize. So they did, by releasing the A321xlr!
• Easier on pilots, Airbus’ main objective with its aircraft is to make the lives of their pilots so much easier! As such, the airliner activates its own autopilot as soon as the aircraft is at cruising altitude and speed, which is something that Boeing doesn’t offer at the moment!

Airbus vs Boeing: Who is the truly superior aircraft manufacturer?

Airbus vs Boeing… It is a hard question to answer. Naturally, most people will have their own opinion as to who wins the Airbus vs Boeing argument. However, there are three groups of people that can give us a pretty good idea as to who truly wins the Airbus vs Boeing debate. 

Pilots

Pilots are generally considered to be a fickle bunch. Some pilots have only ever flown Airbus aircraft, and will thus say that Airbus wins the Airbus vs Boeing debate. Some pilots have only ever flown Boeing aircraft, and thus will say that Boeing wins the Airbus vs Boeing debate.

Other pilots, have flown both manufacturer’s aircraft, where it’s generally a fifty-fifty split between the pilots’ opinions (or at least the pilots that I talked to anyway!)

Even amateur pilots, and those with PPLs have their own opinions. These too are generally a fifty split, with just a few preferring Boeing over Airbus!

Av Geeks

Av geeks too are deeply divided as to who wins the Airbus vs Boeing debate. Many chose Boeing as the winner to the Airbus vs Boeing debate, whilst even more chose Airbus as the winner to the Airbus vs Boeing debate.

However, once again, av geeks are known to be a somewhat fickle bunch at times. Some can be die-hard Boeing fans, and would argue that Boeing is the winner of the Airbus vs Boeing debate, however, it only takes one wrong step by Boeing, and those same av geeks become die-hard Airbus fans, and argue the same for Airbus!

Passengers

Passengers naturally hold the most important answer in the eyes of airlines. If passengers all of a sudden, unanimously agree that all Boeing aircraft or all Airbus aircraft are the best or the worst, airlines will need to take notice and stop flying those aircraft.

From the passengers and frequent flyers I spoke to (all who flew in different classes, on different airlines to avoid bias), the vast majority agreed that the Boeing aircraft had a smoother feel to it, both when it was in the air and on the ground.

The vast majority of them agreed that if they were to participate in an Airbus vs Boeing debate, they’d argue that Boeing was indeed the superior aircraft manufacturer!

My personal opinion

As a former 747 and 787 pilot, I am inclined to say that Boeing is the winner in an Airbus vs Boeing debate, however, with that being said, I have never flown an Airbus aircraft, although I have been a passenger to one.

(Although this was many years ago, and on an A340, which was generally considered to be a flop by both Airbus and the general aviation community!)

With that being said, I can see, from a passenger’s perspective and from a pilot’s perspective why they prefer their given aircraft!

However, if you were to put me in an Airbus vs Boeing debate now, I would probably argue that Boeing is indeed the winner!

So what do you think? Is Airbus the winner or is Boeing the winner if you were to moderate an Airbus vs Boeing debate? Tell me in the comments!

Featured image courtesy of Victor via Flickr