Boeing has Nothing to Worry About the Airbus’s Assembly Line in Alabama
Raymond L. Conner, 57, the new head of the Boeing’s commercial jet business who succeeded James F. Albaugh last month, said on Sunday that Airbus’s assembly line in U.S. is not a concern to worry about losing the American Customers.
“I don’t think our customers really care where an airplane is built,” Raymond told journalists at the time of the Farnborough International Airshow in England. “If they did, we would have about 100 percent market share” in the United States.
Fabrice Brégier, the Airbus chief executive, said that the assembly line in Alabama will enable the company to claim half of the market in America in the single-aisle jet category within ten years.
On listening to this Mr. Conner said, “I wish them luck.”
“At the end of the day, you compete with the best products, with the best value, the best performance and the best relationships,” he said. “If Airbus can bring a better value proposition to the game, then the U.S. airlines will take that into account.”
Mr. Conner said that Alabama assembly line of Airbus would give significant cost-savings to the company as the wages in Alabama are lower than the Airbus’s factories in France and Germany.
“Final assembly represents a pretty small part of the value” of an aircraft, he said.
Boeing expects to sale 34,000 new planes globally over the next 20 years and 68% of them would be in the single-aisle category, in the value of about $2 trillion. It is also expected that the single-aisle demand in U.S. and Canada would likely to reach 5,000 planes over the same time.
Today, “we have wonderful customers and partners in the U.K., as well as some great technology associates and collaborators,” said Shep Hill, president, Boeing International, and senior vice president, Business Development and Strategy.
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