Boeing Bags An Order from the Heart of Airbus Country

Due to its recent production troubles on the A380, Airbus has lost orders to Boeing. Most notable was the Fedex cancellation of A380 orders in favor of Boeing's 777. The triple 7 is not Boeing's direct competitive offering to the A380, it's intended new version of the 747, the 747-8, is. If the A380 is Coke, the 747-8 is Pepsi, so what Fedex said essentially is 'we want cola, but we're so thirsty we'll take the Snapple instead.' This left intact the skepticism that Boeing could make a go of it selling their cola, the 747-8. That skepticism abated when Korean Air ponied up for some Pepsi, and now it has really ended with the latest announcement that Lufthansa wants the 747-8 too. Yes, Lufthansa...the German airline...from Germany...Airbus country through and through, where the government owns and funds Airbus. While this isn't as crushing a blow as I suggest because Lufthansa has flown the 747 for years and is quite familiar and entrenched with this aircraft and Boeing planes in general, the negative symbolism of this order exceeds its actual marketshare/economic meaning by orders of magnitude.

All previous Boeing vs. Airbus posts: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here