Airbus delivers first A330neo in Boeing 787 dogfight
TAP Portugal secures new jet as planemakers jostle to fill gap between single- and twin-aisle aircraft
Airbus delivered its first A330neo jet to TAP Portugal on Monday as it seeks to trump US rival Boeing in the fiercely competitive battle at the lower end of the market for long-haul jets. The face-off between the A330neo and Boeing 787 pits two generations of jetliner against each other in one of the most crowded but potentially lucrative parts of the aircraft market, predicted to represent $1-trillion in sales over 20 years. Airbus said its upgraded A330neo, seating 250-298 passengers, would dovetail with the European planemaker’s hot-selling A321neo narrow-body jet, which seats about 200, in the race to address a gap between single-aisle and twin-aisle jets. Boeing is weighing up proposals to develop a new-generation jet carrying 220-270 passengers in a development analysts say could severely hurt the A330, the most profitable Airbus series. The European planemaker is attempting to close its jaws around the same part of the market through a combination of the A330-800neo and the s...
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