Boeing’s Game-Changing Product Strategy:

Complementary Families of Twin-Aisle Jetliners

Mid-size, twin-aisle commercial airplanes, seating between 200 and 400 passengers, are routinely called upon to serve a remarkable diversity of markets. Markets vary from shuttle routes as short as a few thousand miles to nonstop point-to-point flights that stretch nearly halfway around the globe.

No single airplane family can meet this wide spectrum of requirements. Consequently, airlines have been forced to operate a complex mix of twin-aisle models, each optimized for a particular combination of range and seating capacity.

The complementary 777 and 787 families cover the entire span of twin-aisle markets, enabling airlines to simplify their fleets. Market versatility of the 777 and 787 expands the pool of potential leasing and resale customers, greatly reducing the economic risk to airplane owners and investors.

FLEXIBILITY COMES TO THE TWIN-AISLE MARKET

The new 787 Dreamliner family was designed to complement the highly successful 777 family. Together the two families offer eight mutually compatible models.

The benefits of this strategy are dramatic in the rapidly growing medium-density, nonstop segment of the twin-aisle market. In this mid- to long-range segment, the 777 and 787 families offer four sizes of twin-aisle jetliners: the 777-200ER, 777-300ER, 787-8, and 787-9. These four jetliners cover the broad span of three-class seat-count requirements from 223 to 365 seats in airline preferred 20% increments.

The Boeing strategy of offering four complementary jetliners in evenly graduated sizes enables airlines to match the number of available seats to passenger demand with unprecedented precision.

All four Boeing twin-aisle airplanes share crew and training requirements, so airlines can use a single pool of pilots to cover the entire market segment. The airplanes’ common range capabilities enable airlines to move airplanes freely about the network without regard to performance issues. In fact, because all four airplanes cruise at a speedy Mach 0.84 to Mach 0.85, airlines can reassign these airplanes on very short notice without rewriting airline flight timetables.

To address the same market requirements, the competition has created three families of twin-aisle aircraft and is now struggling to create a fourth, the A350. The Airbus families do not completely cover twin-aisle seat-count requirements and suffer from limited operational commonality at best. They vary widely in range, speed, and economic performance.

GREATER RE-MARKETING OPPORTUNITY

The 777 and 787 fly the same airline timetables with a high level of passenger comfort. This enhances opportunities to place airplanes with operators. Passenger demand fluctuates by season, by day of the week, by peak demand period, and even by direction. 777s and 787s enable airlines to adapt quickly to the variability of demand. A high level of aircraft standardization enables leasing companies to transition 777s and 787s quickly between operators around the globe, wherever passenger demand is strong.

The Boeing strategy of designing the 777 and 787 as complementary jetliner families reduces investor risk by enhancing operator flexibility and economic strength. Yet, should resale become necessary, airlines and investors can expect the 777 and 787 to hold their value in the airplane market.

Advances in the 777 and 787 are driving continual improvements to the rest of the Boeing product line. Technologies and support products and services that provide economic advantage to operators and value to owners are incorporated as options and retrofits in the product line.

The Boeing product strategy creates airplanes that fly the way airlines and passengers prefer to fly. With the highest utilization rates, superior operating economics, and unrivaled market flexibility, Boeing airplanes are dependably exceptional values to operators, financiers, and investors.