Airbus does not like to lose sales- who does? But if they are to worry about anything is the A350 market, not the A380. Airbus’ own sales estimates are for a 20-year period. I’d say they’re ahead of the game as things stand…
As for the gloomy-doomy forecast in the not-entirely-unbiased article from the not-terribly europhile Economist, that is certainly a rather pessimistic view. If we had seen similar end-of-the-world articles about Boeing one year ago, before they had sold any 787s and when Airbus was outselling them in most departments, people would have screamed foul louder than the Krakatoa eruption.
The fact is that the only negative aspect regarding Airbus is the loss of share in the mid-range, mid capacity market the 787 covers. The very-large aircraft market is largely theirs, the superb cash cow the A320 family is continues to bring in revenues, and even with the arrival of the 787 and A350, the A330 continues selling well.
Both companies’ fortunes go in cycles. Airbus will dominate in some periods and Boeing in others- as each company launches a new product that outdates the competition’s own model.
That’s all, really.
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