Fly Away......

Earlier today a friend and I were discussing the merits of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which was officially unveiled earlier this week. My friend thinks that the only thing the 787 has that is a bonus is bigger windows.

In terms of assembly and manufacturing the Dreamliner is a perfect example of the global supply chain management; with different parts and components of the plane stemming from different corners of the globe. The plane has parts manufactured in Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the USA which were then shipped to the USA for assembly. The turnaround piecing together of the different parts will take an estimated 3 days to complete. Brilliant!!!

I advocate for the Dreamliner. Why? Well, first of all their strategy seems to be more inline with global trends, (I can't get into how I deduced this, so let's just call it a hunch), and patterns, whereas Airbus, the main competitor in this seemingly duopolistic industry, has hedged on a somewhat more unfounded approach. Airbus has built a much bigger plane, the A380 Superjambo that will carry 500+ passengers. The intention is to ferry passengers to what are termed as hubs, destinations such as Dubai and London Heathrow, where passengers will be expected to change over or so the thinking goes. I don't know about you but I hate stop overs and change overs. In contrast to this, the Dreamliner is set to travel much longer distances avoiding the stop over and subsequently increasing passenger satisfaction. It is also intended to allow different airline carriers to design new routes and destinations that will move away from the standard routes. Thusly a passenger could fly from Birmingham, England to Nairobi without the need for a stopover at Dubai, or Zurich or from Baltimore, Maryland to Nairobi without having to stop over in Amsterdam. (This may not be the actual case but you get the gist).

The Superjambo though a different concept to the Concorde seems to stem from the same line of thinking that spawned the latter, which was a fete in manufacturing terms, but was a loss making venture from the start. A European business concept that is filled with Nationalistic (read: Jingoistic) ideals that have no place in the business world. Also the Superjambo seems to be betting on the airline industry remaining relatively constant in it's pattern of growth i.e. the Short haul no frills model vs the long haul frills model. The passenger demand patterns have shifted significantly over the past decade and are set to change again with the increase in demand for luxurious long haul etc.

The only thing that I can fault the Boeing 787 at present (since I am not an engineer I can't delve into the nuances of engineering) is the idea that it is environmentally friendly. This to me seems very much an oxymoron. There is no such thing as environmentally friendly aeroplane. They are air polluting and that's that, so no matter how many half measures are put in place the fact that it will pollute the air still remains.

Oh! I know I have ruined my prospects of ever being employed by Airbus or any of its shareholder/stakeholder companies (including EADS and BAE) but somehow this does not seem worrisome. Go Boeing! Go!