Boeing CEO Sees 5-Year Edge On Airbus in Twin-Aisle Jets

Boeing Co. said lessons from the plastic-composite 787 have helped the planemaker build a five-year advantage over Airbus SAS in twin-aisle jets, the models that are the backbone of airlines’ long-haul fleets.

Airbus doesn’t “have an airframe that can compete” with the 777X, the upgraded version of Boeing’s biggest twin-engine plane, Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney said at an investor conference today. “They don’t have the appetite to do a ground-up airplane, and they’d have to do a ground-up airplane.”