Within the past year, the aviation world has been caught up in the debate of whether major carriers should use the new 777x or the A350 variation for widebody flight within the next ten to twenty years. After following the development of both of these planes I think there isn’t yet a clear answer.
You might be wondering why on a blog post trying to answer this question I would pose such a neutral (and maybe to some, boring) answer. I am afraid, however, that this is the only answer that anyone can give without an enormous amount of speculation and personal bias. The fact is the 777x hasn’t even been released and won’t be until 2025 as it just took its inaugural flight this past year in nothing more than the Boeing house colors. It’s just too early to tell whether this plane will be a success or not which at this point has been proven by nothing but “airplane nepotism” as it tries to follow in the footsteps of the ultra-popular 777-200 and 777-300 series. Despite all this, however, the Seattle aerospace giant has landed orders on the aircraft from both Qatar and Lufthansa, two huge Boeing carriers.
Now that I’ve dived into Boeing it’s time to look at the European A350. Now admittedly, I am not the biggest fan of Airbus whether that be because of the pride that American-made Boeing is instilled within me, or the fact that 95% of the flights I have been on are on Boeing products, I have always liked them more. That being said though I do not discredit the success Airbus has had, especially within the past 2-3 years. Now let’s be real, the A380 was a flop, those big behemoths just couldn’t compete with the fuel economy and comfort of the twin-engine B787 and B777 models released during the same time. They were big, cost a lot, and did not work in an aviation market with already razor-thin margins. But Airbus made a strong comeback with the A350 and over there last 5 years has shifted the market share of widebodies back to Airbus’s favor. They don’t look to slow down with huge contracts coming in this past fiscal year for their XWB(Extra Wide Body) series of A350. The A350-900XWB and A350-1000XWB look to compete directly with the 777x series aircraft. This though is where I give Airbus the leg up because while they are innovating a plane for the new market of super long-range and fuel-efficient aircraft, they are doing it with a model that has real flying experience.
At the end of the day both of these planes will be safe, reliable, and comfortable to fly on for flights of up to 22 hours (yes that is happening, they are working on creating a London-Sydney route which clocks in at just under 22 hours and over 10,500 miles!!). The real test will come in 2025 when the Boeing 777x series is delivered to carriers. Until then we will have to wait to decide on the great widebody debate.
If you are looking for more info and someone who actually knows what they are talking about, check out this SimpleFlying article.