Boeing, Airbus prepare for next narrow-body jet battle

Boeing and Airbus are starting to map out the next generation of narrow-body aircraft, but the world’s two dominant plane makers say their airline customers are more concerned with getting today’s jets delivered than pressing for all-new models.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said Monday that the company still needs “a couple more years” to put its finances in a position to support a new commercial aircraft program. 

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, meanwhile, said the European manufacturer is targeting the launch of a next-generation single-aisle program around 2030, with entry into service in the second half of the following decade.

While the two chief executives struck different tones, they pointed to broadly similar time frames.

Airbus has publicly attached a target year to launch its next aircraft. Boeing is indicating that it could be financially capable of moving on a similar horizon, while preserving the option to wait if the technology or market case is not strong enough.

“We think about three things that have to happen,” Ortberg told CNBC’s Phil LeBeau. “First of all, we have to be ready, and part of that is getting our financial house in order, and we’re working on that. It’s going to take a couple more years to get where we want to be.”

The technology also has to be ready, he said, and airline customers must be prepared to move on from Boeing’s current product line.

“The market’s got to be ready. Right now, the customers are telling me, ‘focus on your existing product line, we really want to see better maturity of the existing product line before we move to a new airplane.'”

It comes as aircraft manufacturers experience persistent production bottlenecks across the industry. Boeing is trying to increase 737 Max output and is still reeling from a series of production and quality issues and a near-catastrophic blowout of a fuselage door plug in January 2024.

Airbus has said engine availability, particularly from Pratt & Whitney, forced it to adjust production plans for this year and next, although Faury said the situation had stabilized.

Faury said Airbus is focused on ramping production and delivering aircraft already on order even as it prepares its next generation of commercial aircraft.

“We’re a long-term industry,” Faury said. “It takes time to prepare the technologies, to launch a program for the product, for the production system, [to] enter into service with the certification, do the ramp up.”

Faury said Airbus is preparing its next-generation single-aisle aircraft and wants to maintain its lead in that market. The company is targeting a program launch around 2030 and entry into service in the second half of the 2030s.

For both manufacturers, however, increasing production and delivering existing orders remain the more immediate tasks.