The Boeing Company (BA) and Airbus Step Up Their War of Words

For the most part, Boeing and Airbus have avoided criticizing each other’s aircraft based on safety issues in order to avoid a “mutual assured destruction” scenario. However, Airbus pushed the boundaries last month when sales chief John Leahy criticized the Dreamliner as “not reliable“.

So far, Boeing claims that the Dreamliner’s teething problems have not affected demand, as most customers expect Boeing to resolve the reliability issues relatively soon . However, you can expect Airbus to continue working on airline executives’ fears in an attempt to catch up to Boeing in the widebody market.

Foolish wrap-up

So what’s the big takeaway from this war of words? There are two big points that investors should keep in mind. First, the race between Boeing and Airbus is pretty close. Planes from both manufacturers have their own advantages. As a result, neither company is dominating the other, and I don’t expect the scale to tip heavily in either one’s favor in the foreseeable future.

Second, the large commercial aircraft market is a duopoly, which is a great situation for both companies! Would-be competitors like Comac — a Chinese state-owned airplane start-up — and Bombardier have had trouble meeting development, production, and sales goals . As long as Airbus and Boeing maintain their duopoly, both will thrive. Strong worldwide demand for commercial aircraft will keep production lines busy and profit growing at both competitors.

The article Boeing and Airbus Step Up Their War of Words originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Adam Levine-Weinberg.

Fool contributor Adam Levine-Weinberg has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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