loook on the bright side. If airbus hadn't turned up Boeing might not have had any competition and you'd still be flying hundred series 727's, 737's or early 707's and throwing up posts like "wow, we just got a digital clock on the flight deck" or "hooray they just gave us a stick so we can tap the gauges better"
NZ is Boeing country because the inhabitants don't get out into the real world too often.
Let us not forget that it was a certain aeroplane company from Seattle back in 1974 who proclaimed a widebody aircraft with only two engines was the most unsafe unreliable form of long distance travel out there. Just after Airbus started pushing the A300. No doubt if you'd asked anyone in little ol' NZ back at the time they would have sworn black and blue Boeing was 100% on the money.