AFP/Paris

The battle between Boeing and Airbus for supremacy in the lucrative market for long-haul planes is set to dominate the upcoming Paris Air Show, where the rivals traditionally vie for the spotlight.
These aircraft, which can carry between 210 and 500 passengers, offer aircraft makers the biggest profit margins and all eyes will be on two next-generation long-haul planes — Airbus’s A350 and Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.
Both planes make extensive use of lighter composite materials — 53% for the A350 and 50% for the Dreamliner — that help reduce fuel consumption and pollution.
Airbus has already stolen the show by announcing the much-anticipated first test flight of its new A350 will take place today, and intends to use the show to prove the plane can compete with the 787 that is already in service.
The US aviation giant, meanwhile, wants to use the week-long event — which kicks off on Monday — to maintain its dominance on the long-haul market that started back in 1969 with the huge popularity of its 747 jumbo jet.
It will be looking to show that recent technical problems that hit the 787, forcing the worldwide grounding of the fleet for three months, are over and will fly one of the planes at the event that takes place just outside Paris.
Of the 20,000 airliners in service around the world, 13,000 have been built by Boeing, the US firm estimates.
But Airbus, which launched its first plane in 1969, has gradually taken half of the market for medium-haul, single-aisle planes that carry an average of 150 passengers.
The European aviation giant even says it is getting 60% of orders for newer medium-haul planes, its A320neo outpacing Boeing’s 737 MAX.
Both have yet to come into service, but they came head-to-head at the last Paris air show in 2011, when the A320neo proved hugely successful and helped Airbus beat Boeing with record orders of 730 airliners.
This time round, Airbus will have stolen the show before it even started if its A350 test flight today goes smoothly.
Barring any major hitches in the test flying period after that, the plane is expected to go into service at the end of next year with an 18-month delay.
By comparison, the Dreamliner came into service in September 2011 with a three-year delay.
“Airbus can, and will, argue that Boeing’s ability to execute is questionable, and that the A350 is a better bet in terms of timing and availability,” said Richard Aboulafia, a US-based aviation analyst.
Boeing’s strategy is to give its customers a wider choice of long-haul airliners than Airbus.
It is expected to announce the launch of its 787-10X, a longer version of the original Dreamliner that can accommodate up to 330 passengers. Singapore Airlines has already said it wants to buy 30 of these planes.
Analysts are also expecting Boeing to launch a more modern version of its existing 777 this year, with wings made up of composite materials like the Dreamliner.
Airbus has positioned the A350 between Boeing’s popular 777 and the new 787, hoping to eat away at both planes’ markets, arguing that it will consume 6% less fuel than the 787 and 25% less than the 777.
The European firm also points out that its highly-mediatised double-decker A380 superjumbo is way ahead of its direct rival, the 747-8, which now has only 10% of the market for very large airliners.
While the two aviation giants still dominate airshows, they are far from alone. Canada’s Bombardier is preparing to go on the offensive in the medium-haul market with its CSeries, a plane with 110 to 130 seats.
“The duopoly is definitely over,” said Randy Tinseth, marketing vice president at Boeing.
Some 350,000 visitors are expected to come to the 50th edition of this air show, which has become the global aviation industry’s biggest event in terms of surface and number of exhibitors.
The air show will be open to the public from on June 21 to 23 after having welcomed the professionals.