Forty years ago, European rival wasn’t on Boeing’s radar

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, December 30, 2006

EVERETT – Who’s Airbus?

In 2006, everyone in aviation knows the Toulouse, France-based airplane manufacturer.

In the 1960s, when the Boeing Co. first considered building its factory for the 747 in Everett, it wasn’t worried about competition from planemaker Airbus, its leading rival 40 years later. Competition in the aerospace industry came from different directions, but the decision to proceed with the 747 gave Boeing the edge.

Four decades ago, more companies competed in a more limited commercial airplane market. Things were so competitive that one faulty move could end a company’s future in commercial aviation.

Just ask Boeing rival Lockheed, says Paul Nisbet, aerospace industry analyst.

Boeing’s decision to go ahead with its 747 put pressure on competitors Lockheed, Douglas Aircraft Co. and McDonnell Aircraft Corp. to come up with an answer to Boeing’s jumbo jet.

Both Lockheed and Douglas opted to produce mid-sized planes, courting a different segment of the market – not so unlike Boeing’s recent decision to go small with its new 787 Dreamliner rather than rushing to build a superjumbo jet to match Airbus’s A380.

As Boeing answered Pan American’s request for a 400-plus passenger seat jet with its 747, Lockheed and Douglas heeded American Airlines’ plea for a somewhat smaller plane with their L-1011 and DC-10.

While Lockheed and Douglas probably made the right decision to not go head-to-head with Boeing’s jumbo jet, the two plane manufacturers fumbled in one regard, Nisbet said.

They both made the same plane.

Neither was profitable, which only helped Boeing’s position in the industry. Lockheed, which struggled with launch delays, got out of the commercial airplane market as a result. The DC-10 was the last aircraft designed by Douglas before it merged with McDonnell in 1967.

While Boeing’s domestic competition in the commercial aircraft market had shrunk by the early 1970s, its now longtime rival Airbus emerged abroad. More than three decades later, Airbus is introducing its closest competitor to Boeing’s 747, the superjumbo A380.