Airplanes. Big ones. I am not a connoisseur and will not pretend to be one but what I know about the big elegant beasts is there are two players; Boeing and Airbus. They are built with different philosophies too. One is built with a strong frame which encompasses the entire structure and a relatively thin shell around it. The other is built with a thick shell on the outside and a fairly weak framework inside. Boeing is the one with the stronger framework and the weaker skin, whilst Airbus is the opposite. The two have battled with each other for years.
I always love a good stoush. I like to see two teams, two players, two countries going head to head on the sporting field or in the business world where the stakes are high and the competition stiff. This has been the case for Airbus and Boeing. Enter Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Atlantic Airlines. Virgin currently has a fleet of airlines, all built by Airbus. As you can well imagine, maintenance is fairly stringent and the planes are due to be replaced. Now the airlines are also in quite a competitive situation themselves. After 2001, it was just a battle to survive and in recent years aviation fuel prices have risen dramatically. Consumers require these airlines to keep their prices down and quite often will flock to the one that is least expensive. The costs to fly keep going up, while the masses demand cheaper fares. I don’t know if Airbus thought they were going to immediately replace and re-supply Virgin, whether they became complacent, or just didn’t have their game together when it mattered but they received a massive shock last week. Virgin has decided to go with Boeing.
Richard Branson’s airline has ordered 15 Dreamliner jets, taken out options on eight of the 787s and the rights to buy a further twenty. The deal, if fully consummated would be worth 8 billion dollars US. It seems that the jets were over 25% more fuel efficient. In addition to this change, Virgin is attempting to make a switch to a clean fuel technology in a bid to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Airbus gambled with their new Airbus jetliner in a different way. The fuel was the same but the planes were much bigger. I guess the theory was that an airline could make more money from the people, which would offset the overall cost. It seems Branson was serious about also looking at the cost a plane makes to the environment too.
Finally, my disclaimer. Branson is first and foremost a businessman. He would have, in a second, I believe gone with Airbus if he felt he could have made more money with their design. Of course he would have. He will, however, pay a little more over the next years to push for a cleaner, more Earth friendly solution. The only way to see if his gambit works is to wait. I wonder if more people will choose Virgin because he symbolises a greener change.
I always love a good stoush. I like to see two teams, two players, two countries going head to head on the sporting field or in the business world where the stakes are high and the competition stiff. This has been the case for Airbus and Boeing. Enter Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Atlantic Airlines. Virgin currently has a fleet of airlines, all built by Airbus. As you can well imagine, maintenance is fairly stringent and the planes are due to be replaced. Now the airlines are also in quite a competitive situation themselves. After 2001, it was just a battle to survive and in recent years aviation fuel prices have risen dramatically. Consumers require these airlines to keep their prices down and quite often will flock to the one that is least expensive. The costs to fly keep going up, while the masses demand cheaper fares. I don’t know if Airbus thought they were going to immediately replace and re-supply Virgin, whether they became complacent, or just didn’t have their game together when it mattered but they received a massive shock last week. Virgin has decided to go with Boeing.
Richard Branson’s airline has ordered 15 Dreamliner jets, taken out options on eight of the 787s and the rights to buy a further twenty. The deal, if fully consummated would be worth 8 billion dollars US. It seems that the jets were over 25% more fuel efficient. In addition to this change, Virgin is attempting to make a switch to a clean fuel technology in a bid to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Airbus gambled with their new Airbus jetliner in a different way. The fuel was the same but the planes were much bigger. I guess the theory was that an airline could make more money from the people, which would offset the overall cost. It seems Branson was serious about also looking at the cost a plane makes to the environment too.
Finally, my disclaimer. Branson is first and foremost a businessman. He would have, in a second, I believe gone with Airbus if he felt he could have made more money with their design. Of course he would have. He will, however, pay a little more over the next years to push for a cleaner, more Earth friendly solution. The only way to see if his gambit works is to wait. I wonder if more people will choose Virgin because he symbolises a greener change.
11 comments:
I don't know much about airplanes but have heard lots about global warming, etc. Anybody, who has children or grandchildren would probably want to go green (if they can afford it) so.....and I am sure everything will be regulated by the government before too long anyway.
AV
Money makes the world go 'round. Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Adam Smith eat my shorts. You've done a number on the world. The more money and diamonds a person has, the more sure a bet it is that they're greedy, selfish, and good for nothing.
yes you can include bono, paul mc cartney, rick hansen, elton john, diana, maria sharapova, sir david geldof, peter garrett of midnight oil, dr david suzuki, kofi annan of the UN.
they are rich so they MUST be greedy selfish and good for nothing.
YOU ASTOUND ME PSAM. i for once am very very disappointed with you. Your prejudiced views in tarring everyone who is well off, with the same brush.
some guy
I think we can look back at all the comments by psam. They are all critical. He never has anything good to say about anyone. I havent found one anyways. It rankles me. I am surprised that Caboolture hasn't jumped on him by now.
SG (again)
I do so. I only recently said that caboolture, dost, AV, Targo, some guy, and numerous others were wonderful people for whom I am thankful to have made an acquaintance.
I don't think that bono, Paul McCartney, Rick Hansen, Elton John, Diana, Maria Sharapova, Sir David Geldof, Peter Garrett, Dr David Suzuki, or Kofi Annan would mind if somebody who they don't know and will probably never meet lets off a little steam that there's all this money in the world and still so many people suffering. I'm sure they can take it. Besides, they probably think the same thing about money themselves sometimes.
Do we not all make comments out of frustration sometimes when we see some of the horrible things going on in the world? After all, I've heard interviews with Americans who said they wanted to "turn the entire middle east into one big flaming hole" and other similar things. I certainly hope we can forgive them for such comments, although from the state of Iraq now versus several years ago, I'd have to say they're slowly but steadily accomplishing this.
Alright, I've thought about it some more, and I want to apologize for my comment. I've been so disillusioned the last few days. I've been hearing words come out of racist, warmongering bigots lately that have just about make me want to give up on humanity. It's making me want to just accept the fact that in a very short time we will destroy ourselves.
Apparently there's been a survey on Muslims. They interviewed ten thousand of them, and 1.5% of them said that they felt the attacks of 9-11 were justified. So now these stupid moronic filthy excuses for human beings are claiming that this statistic justifies invading Islamic countries. And you wouldn't believe the number of people that are taking this line of logic seriously. It absolutely blows me away. I can't believe how pathetic the human mind is capable of being. We're hopeless.
So what was my response to hearing these idiotic comments? Say something just as idiotic. Not the right response, certainly, but sometimes I really do feel like we've got less than ten years left to live on this planet, and it just makes me give up and stop trying to bother to make any sense.
I don't like being filled with hatred, but when people start coming up with reasons to justify bombing other countries, I feel compelled to hate them. It's eating me up. I've got to get it off my mind because it'll drive me crazy.
I'm sorry for having taken it out on your senses with my words putting down rich people earlier. Fine, okay, yeah, rich people are great. You don't deserve to have to read that kind of tripe. But so help me I'm filled with desire to wait until the next time I hear someone say "we have to go conquer Islamic countries because there might be some people there that think the attacks of 9-11 were justified" and break enough of their bones to put them in the hospital for a year. Don't worry, I won't do it, but that is how I feel. Is it stupid to apologize for the way I feel? I don't know of a way to change the way I feel, so how can I apologize for something that I have no control over?
Wasn't this topic was about,
"I wonder if more people will choose Virgin because he symbolises a greener change."
Maybe I don't know how to read between the lines or something because I don't get it????? Scary!
Lurking yur right. Branson is a sexy man. He is smart. Now he is green. I like him. I would fly Virgin.
Virgin Atlantic does not serve any less populated places like, say, Canada or Australia. Will this change in Branson's dealings affect other airlines in any residual ways so that travel between these sorts of places will see a change? Is it possible that Airbus may have to find another airline to deal with to replace the business that they lost? Perhaps that airline will get a deal they weren't expecting? I suppose then consumers that choose this airline aren't spending their money in a way that is the most green-conscious.
How would we go about looking into some investment-conscious details of this deal that might educate us further? One thing that would be good to know is, what percentage of Airbus's annual profit is being lost here? What other business do they have that they can recoup these losses from? Is there an online way to get these kinds of stats from companies? It is released in their public statements isn't it?
My final question is: do we think that places that aren't served by Virgin Airlines can start looking for the possibility that they might get the option to choose a cheaper AND greener choice for air travel if Virgin manages to expand to serve their areas?
Look at me, all questions and no answers. I know of two sayings that are relevant to this blog entry and succeeding comments.
"It's not whether you know the right answers, but finding the right questions"
"If you make a speech when you're angry, it'll be the best speech you'll ever regret"
Virgin does fly to Australia
some guy
and all over oz too.
Post a Comment