The long march of the A320 family

摘要

The single-aisle market is by far the most important, at least in number of units. This is also the market segment in which all the ingredients of the present competitive situation are best illustrated. On one side a family of second-generation derivatives of a 1960s' design, on the other, a recent design featuring fly-by-wire controls and an advanced cockpit with sidestick. John Leahy, Airbus Executive VP Customer Affairs, sums up the positions: "We are at the dawn of the 21st century with about 60% of the single-aisle market up against - guess what? - the Boeing 737 that dominated the last half of the 20th century." More precisely, in 2002, firm orders for 397 new single-aisle aircraft have been placed by the world's airlines. Airbus has sold 235 aircraft of the A320 family while Boeing has sold 162 units of its 737 family. As far as the total backlog is concerned, Airbus has about 1,100 aircraft on order and Boeing some 800.