Boeing Loyalists’ Patience Tested as Airbus Wide-Body Takes Off
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Boeing Co. is under mounting pressure from airlines eager for an improved version of its biggest twin-engine jet as Airbus SAS makes inroads in the wide-body market with a model available years earlier.
Airbus plans to fly its A350 for the first time tomorrow in a show of confidence that the jet can enter service in late 2014, followed by a stretched version in 2017 to challenge Boeing’s 777. Boeing is asking carriers for patience until the decade’s end, when its so-called 777X with new wing and engines will be ready.