By Edward James,
AWN Asia-Pacific columnist
Boeing is mounting a massive sales campaign in Southeast Asia to wrest the momentum off Airbus for the mega jumbo.
The Seattle-based company has Joseph Sutter, father of the 747, in a high powered team that is visiting airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific.
Asian airlines are without doubt the key to a launch of Airbus A3XX and analysts suggest that without Singapore Airlines there will be no A3XX. The Boeing team, led by senior vice president of sales and marketing Larry Dickerson, met with Singapore Airlines officials last week.
Dickerson, as readers will recall, pulled off the order of the decade when he snared a Singapore Airlines order for 77 Boeing 777s in the mid-1990s. That order also included the now famous buy-back of Singapore Airlines' 17 A340-300s.
In a watering down of Airbus' much touted Singapore Airlines' Expression Of Interest (EOI) for 10 A3XXs, a spokesman for Singapore Airlines told AWN that the airline had not made any firm decision and were only talking to Airbus.
"We have just expressed interest," he said.
Malaysian Airlines, another prime target for the A3XX, said that it had signed no expression of interest.
Boeing is looking at three 747 derivatives to meet the market needs to carry more passengers and fly further.
The company holds to the view that the market for above 500 seats is very limited. Boeing says that the 747-and-larger market over the next 20 years totals 930 airplanes.
Of that 930, Boeing claims that 365 would have 500 seats or more - too small of market to justify an all-new airplane.
The first model under study would be a more capable 747-400 with minimal development work, which could be available in 2002.
Dubbed the 747-400X it would be the same size but with an increase in MTOW to 910,000 pounds-an increase of 35,000lbs.
This would give the aircraft another 500 miles more range or 15,000 pounds more payload.
One auxiliary fuel tank, with an option for a second tank would accommodate the extra fuel needed.
Additional enhancements would include a new-look interior that builds on the award winning 777passenger cabin and a flight deck upgrade to match the 777. This aircraft is almost identical to the one that Qantas wanted to buy two years ago which was dubbed the 747-400IGW (Increased Gross Weight).
This aircraft would give Qantas and Singapore Airlines the ability to fly Singapore to London in all weather with a full payload.
The real potential for the 747 family comes with a wing root insert, which is the main feature of the next two models.
The 747X will have the same length as the 747 but relofted inboard sections adding 210 inches (17 feet 6 inches). The wingspan would total 228 feet 11 inches compared to the current 211 feet 5 inches.
In addition to greater span, the wing would be thicker, stronger, have more fuel capacity and incorporate several advanced technology aerodynamic features such as a trailing edge wedge, developed for the MD-11 to improved range performance.
There would be overall structural strengthening, new main landing gear with an additional four wheels and changes to the vertical and horizontal tail. The two inboard trucks would have six wheels.
Engines with thrust levels of about 68,000 pounds from the GE-Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance and Rolls-Royce would be required. This would be an increase of about 11,000 lbs of thrust compared to current thrust levels.
The 747X would have a passenger capacity of 430 and a range of 10,330 miles. This extra capacity of 14 passengers is gained by a slight stretch that comes with the new wing root extension.
The range would be greater than the recently launched 777-200LR. The current 747-400 has a typical range of 8,430 miles. Maximum takeoff weight would be 1,043,000 pounds, compared to the current 875,000 pounds.
The higher-capacity version - the 747X Stretch - would accommodate 504 passengers and a range of 8,980 miles.
The extra capacity would be accomplished by adding two fuselage sections, stretching the total body by 31.5 feet. The overall length of the 747X Stretch would be 264 feet 3 inches compared to the current overall length of 231 feet 10 inches.
These models would cost Boeing $3 billion to develop, which is a quarter of the $12 billion touted for the A3XX program. However, a BAE Systems executive says that it would cost more like $15 billion to develop and build the A3XX.
BAE executives claim that they will not look at building the A3XX unless they get 50 "firm" orders from a significant large number of quality airlines.
The problem for Airbus is that the new models of the 747 would have operating economics below the A3XX and it will be cheaper to buy.
Analysts are pouring cold water of the spaciousness claim of Airbus' A3XX.
"Interestingly it is always the cozy upper deck of the 747 that sells first for business class passengers," one Singapore analyst said.
