Easy Airbus or Boeing?
Airbus ups ante in battle for easyJet order
Airbus has offered easyJet a range of price concessions in a bid to beat Boeing to the airline’s £4bn aircraft order, reports the Times.
easyJet has asked both Airbus and Boeing to tender for 120 firm aircraft orders plus a further 120 options. To date easyJet, in common with many budget carriers, has chosen to use a single aircraft type, the Boeing 737, to keep costs down.
However, in an attempt to persuade easyJet to operate a mixed fleet, Airbus has told the airline it will cover the cost of some spares, training and other charges associated with duplicating operations.
easyJet CE, Ray Webster, said the concessions made the Airbus A319 package cheaper than Boeing’s 737-700. ‘The equation is, Boeing at a higher price versus Airbus for a better price and a higher risk,’ the Times quotes him.
The list price of 120 Boeing 737s is around $6.6bn, but given current market conditions airlines have recently been able to negotiate discounts with the US manufacturer.
According to the Times, many industry observers believe Boeing will be the likely winner because easyJet does not at the moment need the added complications of operating a mixed fleet.
In the summer, the airline was forced to cancel a number of flights following the introduction of an unsatisfactory new roster system, which resulted in crews being in the wrong place.
easyJet is also currently in negotiations with British Airways to buy its German low-cost arm, Deutsche BA, itself an all-Boeing 737 operator. ‘easyJet has enough on its plate at the moment,’ one analyst told the Times.