Former Boeing fan boy (first flight on a BOAC 707 in 1964!) but I flew on a Swiss A220 two or three years ago and was blown away how quiet and spacious it was. Absolutely comfortable and pleasant. I seek this type out when travelling. Then flew an Ethiopian A350. I’d take that over the 787 any day. They both changed my mind. Australians will be raving about the A220 shortly.
Absolutely! I visited my homeland (Switzerland) and the A220 is such a cute plane - definitely the way forward with more point-to-point flights. Great interior and can land at smaller airports. I'm also Australian, so I'm proud of Qantas too :) I enjoyed my 787 trip but have never been on the A350 - sounds good!
Qantas to pretty much become an Airbus airline across the fleet. Smart move, will make maintenance and repair a lot easier with all aircraft from the same family.
It’s a tough one but I think the A320neo would be good. There will have compatibility with the training because of the A330’s they have. Which is why I think they should order A330neos too. Qantas have been held back by Boeing’s numerous delivery delays
I doubt they order A330neos. They have B787 already. And they will order A350. So their A330 pilots will switch over to A350, while they will order more B787 for sure to replace the A330s. Especially the -10 should be an interesting plane for Qantas on typical SEA routes and should be very efficient.
@@saschaganser9671 It will be interesting to see how QF plays it with the replacement of the A330s especially on the PER-MEL/SYD runs. For some reason I prefer the twin isle aircraft. If they were to go down the path of using the stretched series 10 as the replacement, there will be no complaint from me. I recently flew in one transcontinental domestic and was very impressed. Busines class setup was great.
Boeing has for now lost the single aisle market and that will not change before they develop a new plane. Only reason to choose a 737 would be earlier availability and initial cost.
That's true, but for some airlines earlier availability is a big advantage at present. It is why Boeing is still selling an awful lot of the old bird. It seems Qantas decided it was worth waiting. If Airbus manages to ramp up 220 and 320 series production significantly (they are trying to but not with much success) then Boeing is toast in narrowbodys.
The 737 is going strong in the USA and with leasing companies. I recently flew on the Max with Southwest. Many European lowcost and charter airlines use the 737. The competition has now shifted to the extra long range single aisle aircraft. There Airbus has a leg over Boeing, for the time being. Passengers no longer want to have a stop over to reach their final (International) destination.
The QF Group has been gravitating towards the A320 family, all subsidiaries operate the type and it was only a matter of time mainline joined. The A321XLR will give QF a right sized aircraft to serve more O&D/VFR routes in Asia and Pacific whilst increasing capacity on trans continental and triangle routes.
Not surprised. I think the A220 is a good match for many of Qantas's rotes. I suspect they are waiting on the A220-500, and will either convert some existing orders to it, or extend the order when it launches.
I don’t think Airbus will do a 500 unless they can renegotiate prices for parts going into their 100/300 too because right now production speed and cost are too high.
The first 737 was introduced in 1967. It has the same fuselage, cockpit, and cabin cross-section of the Boeing 707, which dates to the 1950s so I believe it's time for Boeing to innovate.
Tell the airlines that. You must think they are stupid. They are buying the MAX by the thousands. I suppose you would like to crapcan the Chinook and the C130 too. Keep your day job.
I have flown with both types and felt that A320 (including the first A320neo delivered to Lufthansa) is better and more comfortable, spacious than B737. I haven't flown with B737 MAX yet: when I do, I will re-examine my perspectives and see if they change or not. In addition, Boeing should have gone ahead with B737 replacement rather than reinvent B737-pushing it over the limits and hoping for best-to compete with Airbus even though the development would take longer.
I agree. I have the same experience and I would add that the a320 (neo or CEO) have better air conditioning and sound insulation than 737-800. The max might be an awesome plane (or not...) But one thing they surely haven't sorted: it is narrower than an Airbus so they try as they might, shoulder room should be less than in the Airbus.
After the ancient B737 max grounding and rectification time period a clean sheet job would have been in the airlines hands by now. Tough luck Boing, for taking the easy, lazy way out. B737MAX is almost 60 years old in design; has sold a truckload and was well overdue for replacement.
They would have lost too much market to Airbus if they had gone all in on a new plane. The Max was the obvious decision, however they ran into the headache that spawned the MCAS. To avoid losing the edge of the 737, e.g no change from previous generation, no training necessary, no new type approval certification, they just commit perjury. They are still going to benefit because they got that exemption to certify the Max 9 and Max 10 without the new cockpit warnings. I have recently flown on a Max, with SouthWest, people don't even know which aircraft they are on.
As someone who has worked on the 737 from a maintenance prospective, I would never fly this aircraft by choice. It's design belongs back in the 1960s it's old, overcomplicated and over engineered. Airbus are an engineers dream, very easy to work on, very reliable and well engineered. Qantas made the right choice.
The 737 is a horrible plane that should have been scrapped long ago. Even the placement of the windows at passengers’ arm or elbow height shows how tired and ancient the base design is. The 320 is old too but a lot better.
From a flying customer standpoint, the A320 series has wider seats in standard 3+3, as the cabin is 7" wider than the 737. It's also quieter inside. In the practicality stakes, the 737 will always be a chuck-baggage loader, but A320s can be optioned for containerised baggage handling.
I agree. I took a Malindo flight before the crash (thank god I was spared) and Air Asia A320 NEO about a year later and the Airbus is a clear winner. Much quieter and the engines striking effortless takeoff is pretty obvious
@@Jack3md So you see the barking sound that lasts for maybe 15 seconds over a 4 hours flight as a massive downside? Can you please remind me what kind of a sound the MAX makes when is about to smash into the ground?
As I've said before, the Airbus was the wise decision for Qantas due to the diversity of their narrowbody aircraft offerings. It's not a huge blow to Boeing however, because they didn't enough variety to offer as a replacement. This has nothing to do with what customers prefer but rather the best fit for the airline's operations. In the long run, Qantas will incur an initial cost from retraining their Boeing certified pilots to fly the A320, and they will maintain a relationship with Boeing by operating the 787-9. Personally, I believe that the Max would have been the more logical move for their core fleet replacement, with the A220 for their regional routes and A321XLR for their thin, long routes, but this move is a good one for them either way.
It's also a case of size. Qantas picked the A220-300, which is smaller than the MAX8, and A321NEO, bigger than the MAX8. A plane the size of a MAX8 is not what they're looking for right now
Brit here. The recent order from South West for the Max was obvious, even though they said they would buy the A220. Knowing Boeing was in trouble, a huge customer like South West transfering to Airbus would be catastrophic for Boeing. South West saw a window to get a very cut down price for the Max and so eventually thats what happened, even though the A220 outclasses the Max in every way, South West stayed with Boeing because it also gained in not having to train its pilots. Qantas on the otherhand has chosen Airbus because a lot of Qantas fleet is now Airbus, which means its pilots wont need extra training. Airbus cleverly kept all the types of Aircraft it sells to the same cockpit layout and so going from A320 to a A220 is a piece of cake. Plus the A220 outclasses the Max is a no brainer plus its also very economical. Those greed ridden ex CEO's who walked from Boeing with over $60million have caused Boeing no end of trouble, Lets hope Boeing gets back to its old pilosophy of Safety first with engineering at the front instead of Wall st.
I Smell a Beautiful A330neo on their order books soon & Even the A350-900 too i think Qantas now should retire the B787 & go out in an all Airbus fleet now i think its heading that way i hope so GO Airbus !!!
Retire the 787? What?! Lol, they just brought in 2 new 787’s delivered over the last couple months with one more to go. Their 787 fleet is very young, why in the world would they retire it? If anything, they should place orders for more considering how fuel efficient they are
So after much scrutiny, I’m sure the Max is a very safe plane… But it’s the principle of the dang thing. If I ran an airline, I wouldn’t buy it no matter how good of a deal it may be (Probably why I’m not running an airline) and Airbus is on point. The A220 is slowly replacing the 757 as my favorite aircraft.
When the choice is playing Russian (American?) roulette with one safety lock or two, the best choice remains to not play. The MCAS is still there, it can still kill and probably will if people let it fly long enough.
@@yslee1401 Not really. Their reputation has come back a decent bit over the last year and a half. Just looking at airline orders, Boeing has amassed a couple hundred for the 787 alone, and their MAX total orders have already surpassed what it was pre-2020/2019.
There is no way in hell I will get into a 737 Max after the recent debacle. Used to love Boeing, 737-800, 777, 787 great aircraft, but since the Max crashes, and how Boeing handled it, just can't trust them anymore. I totally trust Airbus A32X and A350s. As someone who uses study level sims, totally have trust in the Airbus systems. You could not pay me to fly on the Boeing 737 Max.
Hi Tom, I totally agree! Boeing stretched the 737 beyond its design envelope with engines too large for it, in their haste to compete with Airbus. Having fitted engines too large by pushing them forward and up, relative to the wings, this changed the centre of gravity and the centre of lift especially under full power forcing them to counter the resultant effect by installing their MCAS computer program which was fed from ONLY ONE AoA sensor (whatever happened to failsafe redundancy?). Well the rest is history. Now, have they fixed the problem? Not if I understand that although the 737MAX has 2 AoA sensors, I'm still not sure whether they are being used simultaneously or alternately, but whichever way, if one sensor starts feeding BS data, how would you know? At least Airbus use 3 sensors and several computers using a voting system to minimise erroneous data being fed into the system. Regardless, Boeing's management, or lack of, doesn't give me any confidence that their culture has changed enough to truly create a safe aircraft. I'll never step foot on the 737MAX or its new name because it's still a FLAWED AIRCRAFT. Cheers!
You miss the point. It's about trust. And I no longer trust Boeing. And I won't trust my family's life with them either. The way they handled the aftermath of the incident of the victims was literally a crime. You fly them. I'd gladly give up my seat for you.
People have short memories. Research the first two A320 crashes back in 1988 and 1990. Basically those and the two 737MAX crashes were due to the same cause - the pilots getting behind the aircraft. The first two A320 crashes were literally controlled flights into terrain.
@@paulm1365 Technology and learning have come a long way since then (35 years ago)... Boeing went cheap, and when it went wrong, tried to skirt responsibility, and effectively got away with it. There's a huge difference. That needs to be said. No short memory at all. I am aware of the A320.
Boeing completely blew it, when they designed a botched together airframe engine combination that needed automation to prevent it from crashing. Particularly when, to avoid pilot training, they did not even tell the pilots that the automation existed, let alone how to take manual control when the computer went wrong and decided to crash the aircraft for them. To this day, their are passengers who refuse to book seats on the contraption, along with pilots who refuse to fly it. How Boeing allowed all this to happen defies belief and has seriously damaged the companies reputation.
They tried to save money and as it turned out, ended spending a lot more and tarnished their reputation for decades. Only because the market is too big for one manufacturer will they eventually recover.
@@p6x2 They have the opportunity to recover, but they show no signs of having learnt the lessons, and other manufacturers may join in. The new friendship between Russia and China could revolutionise the industry as the world moves away from the dollar.
My two favourite airbus industries jets are the A220 and the A330 and although I’ve not yet flown in an A220 it’s a dream to have a tour of one, ah well maybe one day before this swinging brick for a heart decides that’s it I’m gone. Another great video. 🙏🙏
Boring truly messed up when thy tried to bury Bombadier and not take the opportunity to buy the plane when it would have fitted their line up better than Airbus. They just allowed Airbus to acquire a new clean sheet designed plane for free.
I believe 1 important factor in this deal is that ALL airbus aircraft have the same technical advanced cockpits which will save Quantas lots of money in training in simulators.
I’ve flown on the MAX quite a lot already post grounding and have no issue, nor do any of the passengers. It will be 3 years this December since it started flying again(in the U.S.) and in most countries and it hasn’t had any issues to date
@@Jack3md Good for you. Hope it continues to be ok and Boeing don't have any other hidden gems lurking in the software. I don't have to ride in them, so I make that choice 👍
The A220 would be ideal for, say, Invercargill- Australia. Southern Kiwis like traveling 'across the ditch' and, right now, crossing the ditch from Invercargill is an all day affair. Air NZ still want to ferret pax thru Auckland to any overseas destination so here's an opportunity for Qantas A220, Trans Tasman. And, yes. Airbus narrowbodies Are the way to go for Qantas.
On firm order are 29 x A220’s. But the current Qantas / Qantaslink fleet includes 15 x B717, 16 x E190, and 14 x F100 so this order doesn’t even cover replacement of these let alone any B737. Also on firm order are 20 x A321NEO XLR. These aircraft have greater range than any B737 variant. I suspect they may be used to replace some Qantas wide body aircraft on some routes as this capacity is desperately needed elsewhere. They cut back the wide bodies too hard during Covid and did not order enough B787’s - hence the need to lease Finnair A330’s. Don’t be shocked to see A321XLR used to replace A330 on SYD-PER and MEL-PER. They can also be used on routes like PER-Auckland and ADL-SIN. If Jetstar order A321XLR don’t be shocked if their B788 return to Qantas to end their life on domestic routes.
Disappointing. Boeing needs to do a completely new design of their 737-type aircraft. Satisfying the likes of Southwest, Ryan or Delta is coming back to bite Boeing in the ass. The two crashes, though now resolved, really damaged their reputation with the aircraft type. IMHO, Boeing needs new leadership -- instead, I'm sure, they secured themselves huge bonuses. Their arrogance is going to be their downfall.
Boeing need to restructure, fire people, change thier whole ideology and learn humility. Then get back to thier engineering roots vs $$$$ and they will be fine. It's not the crashes that damanged them its thier greed, lack of puting saftey first and distrust of thier own engineers who no doubt may have left due to poor treatment.
This sparks the need for the 797. 797 - 300 to replace the 717 and compete against the A220 797 - 400 to replace the 737 and compete against the A320neo 797 - 500 ER to replace the 757 as the middle of the market Aircraft and compete against the A321XLR
@@electro_sykes they will need to do a 797 and 737 replacement simultaneously like they did with the 767 and 757 to cut cost because it's two different segments design will be different but if they co design the two together and share some parts that may work. Plus the development time is a killer maybe that's why they are waiting till 2030.
Disappointing? It would be disappointing if an airliner selected dinosaurs for the sake of nostalgia. I find it disgusting beyond believe that you call the crashes "resolved". Do any families have their loved ones back? They can't? You should be ashamed of yourself.
Arrogance is the reason most American corporations fail. Chrysler, Detroit Diesel Frigidaire etc. We're all taken over by foreign competitors due to corporate greed and mismanagement and wonder why we're losing when it comes to innovation!
Every airline have to make the right decision for themself.but to totally change from one company type to another will probelly work for qantas.I wish them all the best on there future fleat
Moving to Airbus for the narrowbodies became a no-brainer once Airbus acquired the 220, promising the 220-500, and developed the 321XLR. Qantas' home is a continent with big distances between major airports so range matters more for them than for most narrowbody operators. Boeing has not got a plane that is competitive in the 5000km range market, while Qantas needs some of those. And the commonality with larger planes is a big bonus.
There is no similarity between an A320 and a 737 max. One is responsible for a lot of deaths because of greed and complacency and the other is an Airbus A320
Boeing are reluctant to innovate and soldier on with older planes they update. Even the B-52 is still flying although that's the military. They should have replaced the 737 years ago. The 767 still flying as a cargo aircraft. The 787 is a good aircraft which should have been further developed into more flexible varients. The 777X program has been plagued with delays. Look how quick Airbus rolled out the A-350 series. I think they learnt a lot from producing the A-380.
@@phillipbanes5484 Exactly, I said they should have developed more varients of that aircraft to market demand. Being advanced does not mean it the right fit for a lot of airlines. That is where Airbus have targeted versions of their aircraft to market requirements. I am NOT talking technology.
@@phillipbanes5484 Yes I thought that when I did my reply. That was the only word that sprang to mind. Flexible would have been better I think especially in terms of what the market is looking for. I guess every aircraft is a compromise of sorts. I have always been a big Boeing fan have no doubt of that.
@@phillipbanes5484yet the A350 is more fuel efficient, I wonder why? Maybe there’s a reason planes use a bleed air system and not electric generators for HVAC and starting of the engines 🤔
Time for the 737 to be consigned to history. Boeing has wrung as much as they can from a 55+ year old design. I think Qantas has made the right decision this time & the Airbus family has more ground clearance for larger more fuel efficient engines without compromising the centre of gravity.
Great Video. Thorough with good information. I agree with the theory that Boeing did not expand their range of products enough. Their failed merger attempt with Embraer in 2020 put them in this position. Of course the 737 Max tragedies and the pandemic did not help, but had they merged with Embraer, they would be in a more competitive position. Although, I have always been partial to Boeing, I have to compliment Airbus on doing their research, listening to the needs of their clients and delivery quality products.
Agree boeing is a mess and i feel they need to hit rock bottom to bounce back as a serious player... i dont think they have hit the bottom level yet also the waiting till 2030 signals lack of innovation and captital to react swiftly. Airbus has been doing a fantastic job and are clearly not arrogant even with thier recent sucess boeing should learn from this and turn back to thier engineering first mantra they once had before becoming greedy.
Boeing gave Airbus the A220 for a song by lobbying to block it from the US market. That company is going to keep descending until it moves HQ back to Seattle and is run by engineers instead of lobbyists and financiers.
I wish they decided on the Embraer, as the E190 is my next favourite airplane after the A380. Mainly suited for shorter trips, but so much legroom & overall space, on all the E190’s I have flown on.
Australia is huge. I feel like the higher capacity and increased efficiency of the 220 family makes it a lot more attractive than the 190, including the EII’s.
For all that I have read, the A220 seems to be far superior. TAP had e190 and is happy with them but I would argue that they only choose it over the a220 for 3 reasons: 1- the a220 at the time was fairly new (still a bombardier) and the advantages hadn't been interily seen at the moment. 2- David Neeleman is Brazilian and surely had connections to Embraer. 3- There are a lot of ties between Portuguese and Brazilian government and there are even Embraer facilities in Portugal, which my explain why it was favoured. Basically, everyone is raving about how good the a220 is.
@@TheAllMightyGodofCod Yeah probably but the bean counters look at the money. There is a reason National Jet Systems (who will operate them for QF) went for them and a reason why Alliance went the E190s (bargain covid price with sims thrown in). Different tools for different jobs. Looks like Hawaiian will also follow NJS and replace their 717s with 220s. Big benefit there is they won't have to use ferry tanks to fly them to California for C and D checks.
@@goodshipkaraboudjan as far as I have read, not only a220 is preferred by costumers as it is more economical to run, but yes, it depends on the route you will use it on and some managers might favour the Embraer if the price tag is lower
the future for the crew with airbus able to have crew cross trained and certified to operate A320/A330 etc qantas has started this with their freighter division as a test ground for the airlines future
@@scotttild Boeing has actively hidden the exact function of the MCAS from the FAA and has not mentioned it once in their training documents. There are no other systems in modern aircraft where a single broken sensor can have such catastrophic consequences. These people didn't die because of mistakes made by pilots or airlines, but because Boeings greed.
@@scotttildI don't care, there was something wrong with it, they messed up and I actively avoid it. I regularly book more expensive flights because I prefer A350 over 787 and A320/1 over 737
Hobart to Singapore? Canberra to Singapore,? both non-stop. im hoping this would be finically feseable for the airlines, would make travelling to europe and sea a lot better
@@phillipbanes5484maybe because A320 is less likely to fall out of the sky due to computer glitches, sorry "computer systems" deliberately created...?
@phillipbanes5484 because a320neo is much more reliable. You can bring much more passengers than b737 with a better mtow. It's easier to handle a320 rn. The efficiency is perfect with a ton of load.
I think Qantas moving towards becoming all airbus is a smart idea but when the A350s come along I really hope that the 787s stay in service and don’t just get swapped out for non stop routes on just the A350
Awesome work Qantas, I flew plenty safest 800 around main hub within Australia. If they replace jet with max, I wouldn’t have the confidence to get onboard. 👍
Only problem I see is the A220 doesn’t fully conform their the rest of the Airbus cockpit philosophy of similarity. They’d want an aircraft replacing the A320 to be more like an A350 cockpit but smaller and similar layout.
For a diehard QANTAS loyalist, I'm much happier that we went down the Airbus route. As you mentioned DJ, the fact that QANTAS can bulk order for Jetstar & QANTAS-Link in one go makes sense, added to the fact that, once into service, the fleet will be predominantly Airbus, except for the remaining B787 in QANTAS (the Jetstar B787's are earmarked for soon replacement). Whilst models will vary, the ability to deal with a single manufacturer vs. 2 or even 3 if we went for the 'E' Series, makes this process a lot more streamlined. I believe that the issues with the B787 & then the MCAS with the B737-Max played a huge part in this decision.
While I like the 737, and 717. The new airbus A220 looks great, can’t wait to try. QANTASLINK staff are staff are the friendliest in Australian, Next Rex, QANTAS way behind. Unfortunately Virgin no longer fly where I want to go. Bonza, will see. Future flights
@@simonround2439 It wa never going to be a Boeing.... Everything Boeing did to Bombardier saw to that. Boeing failed for their lack of imagination and simply tried to squash the C-Series/ A220 out of existence. Airbus on the other hand simply stepped in at the right time to ensure that jobs and the aircraft were saved.
As a UK person I travel mostly Boeing, as a European I would rather fly Airbus - I have many friends who depend on Airbus for a living. On a petty level, Boeing get what they deserve.
@@phillipbanes5484 I still live in europe, I want europe to beat USA in the Ryder Cup. Airbus planes are assembled from parts made in several euopean countries providing employment for many people. I dont like the EU!
I’m a big fan of Boeing but I think the A-220 and A-321 made the difference. The delays with the MAX7 and MAX10 I think were pivotal. FAA is now gun shy after they dropped the ball is not noticing McD D leadership taking over after the merger and now are overwhelming Boeing with never before seen information requirements.
As a major flyer, I have always been a Boeing guy. But I am feeling more comfortable these days on Airbus aircraft. I still prefer the E175 for best comfort.
This sparks the need for the 797. 797 - 300 to replace the 717 and compete against the A220 797 - 400 to replace the 737 and compete against the A320neo 797 - 500 ER to replace the 757 as the middle of the market Aircraft and compete against the A321XLR
It’s almost 1 am. I can’t sleep and it’s been a long day.. I’m typing with my thumbs and exhausted so forgive my poor grammar, spelling and rambling comment I’m an airline pilot. I love to fly literally anything. I’ve flown many different aircraft. I’m a US citizens and have trained pilots from all over the world. Off the top of my head.. Canada, New Zealand, Australia, S Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil, USA, England, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, Spain, Italy (Northern Milan, Southern Naples and Sicily. Very different cultures in Italy from N to South), Poland and I’m sure I’m forgetting some one……. oh also S Africa and India. The point I want I make is I’ve flown and taught a lot of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and beliefs. The one thing consistent among all these pilots is a love of aircraft almost as strong as the love of flying the aircraft. We all will gladly fly what ever someone will pay us to fly. Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Bombardier, ATR just to name a few. I’ve always been a Boeing pilot. I prefer the thought process and feel of Boeings cockpits over Airbus. I also like Boeings looks across the board on their aircraft. In particular, the 747 vs A-380, 737 vs A-320, 767 vs A-330 and 787 vs A-350. My absolute favorite looking Boeing has been the 757. Long elegant fuselage sitting high on gear that keeps two massive engines (for a narrow body of its era) from dragging the ground. When Delta purchased the 757… I fell in love with this platform. It reminded me of a beautiful woman long legs, slender body with two perfectly sized…… well you get the picture. Now when Northwest and Delta merged, most people don’t realize this, but Northwest’s leadership team ended up with a lot more influence and final decision making than Delta. Almost immediately we began shifting away from Boeing. It’s been a good move for Delta. Why? Because it really doesn’t matter what the pilots like the looks of or which we prefer to fly. What matters most at an airline is safety, cost to operate, and the relationship with the manufacturer. The A-320 is a more comfortable aircraft for passengers. I’m on the A-320 A-321 and 737-900 a lot. Delta has these aircraft configured almost exactly the same. When flying coach or first class… the A-320/1 has more room, larger windows, more comfortable restrooms, it’s quieter and larger overhead bins. I really prefer this A-320 as a passenger. NOW…. Does it matter alot? NO. My wife and fully grown kids can’t tell the difference except when I point out the differences. I believe Airbus has a better corporate union membership culture (relationship) than Boeing. Boeings Unions are extremely adversarial with leadership and they have vindictive members. When Boeing shifted 787 production in order to reduce costs… I believe union members sabotaged the move in every possible way. I have tons of anecdotal evidence but it wouldn’t be probable in court. Overall Deltas move to Airbus has been the right call. Now. For the future. I believe it is crucial for Boeing to become an innovator again. It’s leadership currently isn’t an innovator or risk taker. Boeing needs a replacement for the 737, 757, and it really should have purchased Bombardier when it had the chance. The Canadian company was a perfect fit and it’s leadership team would have been a good group to place in senior leadership roles at Boeing. I also believe Boeing should have pursued it’s relationship with Emraer. So where does this leave airlines when buying narrow bodies. Well, if you already have a 737 fleet and trained pilots… it makes sense to order more 737’s. The MAX is a wonderful aircraft. It was and still is a safe aircraft to fly. Final thoughts. Here in the USA, we buy aircraft and hire pilots from all over the world. Our citizens don’t demand loyalty to the national airline manufacturer. But throughout the world, that isn’t the same. Germans, French and most European citizens will by their own products first and only buy US made product when it is clearly and significantly a better alternative. Airbus has a significant advantage when selling to European airlines, Chinese airlines and British commonwealth.
Dan, you need to rename this site. It has informative content & I understand the direction that you’re taking with it, but “Globetrotting” sounds too much like a travel channel.
It will be a good move if Qantas standardises the narrow body fleet across the group and starts sharing some of the back-end operations between Qantas and Jetstar to reduce costs instead of squeezing employees and cutting services to customers. I think the A220 is a good move and they probably need to think of replacing some Q400 services with the A220-100 in addition to the A220-300 replacing the 717 and 737NG. They probably should press for Airbus to get the A220-500 underway and only purchase the A321 in both a domestic/trans-Tasman two class LR and a few 3 class XLRs. On a wider industry note, with Boeing deferring work on a 767 replacement, maybe Embraer and Mitsubishi should get together and look at a 2-3-2 or 2-4-2 with 250 - 280 seats (2 class ) and 6-8000 km range.
Boeing stopped innovating and relied too heavily on air carriers not wanting to train crews on new aircraft types. It is a same that the executives, like many executive boards at other companies, took value out of the company to give them selves pay raises and bonuses.
You mean all those budget airlines like Jetstar, Bonza, Virgin Australia etc. since when is Qantas not a flag carrier? That’s like saying BA isn’t the flag carrier for the U.K. or Lufthansa isn’t the flag carrier for Germany
The 737 may be old but completes the mission with all passengers, all cargo, and all the fuel while the airbus family of jets can not do; something needs to be compromised. The A220 has major mechanical issues and I am surprised no one is talking about it. Any NEO engined or geared turbo fan engine has bearing problems and numerous engine failures. The 737 is old but the airbus is also 1970’s technology.
Not it doesn’t. Take the 737 Max 8. OEW is 45,070kg, max payload is 20,880kg, max fuel is 20,726kg, combined weighs 86,676kg. That’s about 4 tons over MTOW. “Any NEO engine”. You realise that one of those engines is the CFM LEAP which is also used in the Max right? And whose fault is it if the engines don’t work? Airbus/Boeing? Or the engine manufacturer? If the Airbus is 70’s technology then 737 is 50’s technology.
Yes! It was the right decision! I might be a little biased because I am European, but I think Boing made a mistake and has rested on its success with the 747 for too long!
Everyone needs to remember the @ 320 family is actually/originally a Bombardier design and build. Truly a Canadian design and build…just bought out by airbus.
I wouldn't complain Qantas for choosing the A220-300 . Nice if it havw been a all Airbus airline . The only plane they have to remove is thr 787 . But will do not . Because of the growing demand . Waiting eagerly for the A350s .
Between the 787 and the forthcoming 777X variant Boeing has the large widebody space well covered for the moment; some things they do better than the A350 can, some worse. It is in the small and medium plane ranges that Boeing has fallen well behind. But given they've renounced any clean sheet design the biggest twins will be their only remotely competitive segment, and the commonality of the 350XWB with smaller Airbus planes (whichjh will become a near monopoly) will badly hamper their competitiveness even in that space.
I'm tired of both the Boeing 737 and the Airbus 320 series. The Airbus 220 with 2-3 seating and better economics makes me hope and expect more and more airlines going this direction until Airbus and Boeing make a more significant leap to another design that improves customer experience and economics.
Boeing isn't the brightest bulb on the tree so we have observed with the MAX issue. Their reluctance to update and deliver a new version of the 757 is another of their BIG mistakes and they will loose to Airbus most likely. The customers dictate what they want, not the purveyor shoving what they want down their throats. Time will tell.
Given the A321XLRs existence, Airbus is the better choice for Qantas. However, that doesn't mean that Airbus is automatically the better financial option.
It's not going to be cheap. They will have to retrain all their pilots and engineers. With any new aircraft type, there is a steep learning curve. Qantas will be sure to have lots of teething problems.
You just invalidated yourself in the first 6 seconds. The 1967 B737 is not just as popular with customers as the A320 series. All metrics prove otherwise. This simple example is why your channel grows so slowly
I own shares in Qantas and am an ex Airbus bolter (making the wings) I never fly Boeing if I can help it, they are a company not to be trusted! I know the the lengths Airbus go to, to make an aeroplane that it as structurally sound as possible without compromising! Bring back the A380
the only downside to qantas choosing the A320/1 for their mainline fleet is the cost in new equipment if they use containerized aircraft like they do with Jetstar vs bulk load i.e. cost of the containers and more loaders
I’m a Boeing fan and believe 737 MAX is a safe airplane….. But, the A220 is such a good aircraft and there is not much out there that can match it. Boeing needs to reorganize from top down and get their relationship with workers fixed. Boeing made two huge mistakes by not building a 757 replacement and should have purchased the C1000 (220) instead of suing over the delta order. Airbus will sell more A220s than any other model during the next few years.
Quantas did everything right. Airbus offers more flexibility than Boeing. Boeing's mistake in the past was not to launch a new aircraft family 20 years ago. Boeing's second mistake was to abandon the Boeing 757 instead of continuing to develop it and, like Airbus, being able to offer further variants of a more modern aircraft. Boeing missed the chance thoroughly!
It is impossible to get away from the fact that the 737 has probably reached the end of the line. I believe that there are many engineering reasons why it should, but it is probably the withdrawal of Grandfather Rights, which will be the final nail in the 737s coffin. Once you require a certain level of updating to meet the current standards, along with the compromises you will inevitably need to make, it just becomes more cost-effective to start from scratch. Should they need to, Airbus could probably release an updated A320 series or even new model, and Boeing would not be able to compete using the 737. This means that it will probably be too expensive to introduce any new variant, whereas Airbus are more easily able to modify their design to meet customer requirements. While it is possible to make arguments for A320 v B737, other less obvious factors can determine the best option. If you remove what we don't know (prices offered by the manufacturers), we are still left with the A320's biggest selling point - the A321. Operationally, should you have an issue with your fleet, you are more likely to be able to swap between types at shorter notice when you know that your flight and cabin crew can swap between aircraft types - something I often see on one of the routes I fly, where it can be an A319/320, or occasionally a A321 when there has been an issue with a flight the previous day and some passengers couldn't be carried.
@ericjones7769 I know, but I will warn you that there is a Troll who loves to shout FAKE and spout loads of unsubstantiated rubbish whenever anyone mentions A322! Although, I believe that an A322 would only be possible with more powerful engines (none are currently suitable), and/or the aircraft lost a lot of weight (such as in a brand new composite wing etc.) Although, if a new wing design were carried down, an A320 would probably knock spots off a Max8, and in the unlikely event it was fitted to the A319, you have to wonder how it would compare efficiency/seat cost wise to the A220.
@Blank00 In the same way that there is room for the 737 and the A320, even if a hypothetical A220-500 were produced (although it would probably need an A220-700 to properly compete), when sales are in the high thousands and with many years of backlog (Max too), while I accept that it may make a serious dent into sales of the A320 (and 737) I doubt if it will compromise either's viability. You also have the fact that Airbus make far more money out of each A320 than from the A220. You also have to consider that the A320 is the ONLY one of the three, which can take containerised freight/luggage. Budget Airlines often want a single type to keep their costs down, and while the likes of Air Baltic may therefore welcome an A220-500, the likes of Easyjet who also operate A321s could look elsewhere if the A320 was to be dropped.