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Chapters:
Intro – 0:00
Air France / KLM – 0:56
KLM’ Fleet – 3:08
Reason #1 – 4:31
Reason #2 – 5:55
Reason #3 – 6:56
Hope for Boeing? – 8:17
Outro – 11:08
________________________________________________________________________
KLM is the oldest airline on Earth. It’s also one of the most esteemed – proving a vital way of connecting Europe to the world. For years, Boeing and Airbus have fought to sell KLM new planes, and so far, Boeing’s dominated; Nearly all of KLM’s fleet is American made.
So, when news broke that KLM wanted to upgrade its long-haul fleet, everyone expected them to purchase 787s. But last week, they made the stunning decision to order the rival A350 instead. So, why the hard pivot? Why is KLM building its future fleet around Airbus instead of Boeing? Let me explain…
#airbus #a350 #KLM #boeing #777x #787 #777 #airfrance
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This is a comment I sent a year or two ago, to the investment newsletter that I subscribe to.
Boeing stock should be worth nothing. Present management is solely pursuing lowest possible cost of production. They have abandoned manufacturing quality and engineering competence.
Existing airline customers have been unwilling to accept planes build at Boeing’s South Carolina plant due to poor quality of production. So now Boeing is transferring all of its production to this plant. Sales 101 – make the customer happy. Now is that making the customer happy; not at all!
The lithium batteries on the 787 that caused fires, was an engineering failure beyond belief. My next-door neighbour, high school education, building remote control planes at the time of the 787 fires, knew more about lithium batteries and fire potential than Boeing did! That is truly revealing of Boeing’s engineering incompetence.
As a retired safety engineer, the reliance on a “known to be unreliable” sensory, is monstrously incompetent. On the 737 Max, the software control system (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS)) that worked in the background (hidden from the pilots) depended on the angle of attack sensor on the outside of the plane. This sensory is known to be unreliable. Fundamental safety engineering rules state that such an unreliable sensor should never input to an online controlling software system. As a retired professional engineer, this negligence is not just unprofessional or due to incompetence – it is criminal. People died due to this incomprehensible engineering incompetence. Management was not paying attention; they were off cutting costs, or whatever.
These issues, and as a stock market investor (a retired engineer in a time of zero interest rates) makes me firmly believe that Boeing’s stock is worth zero due primarily to their upper management, board of directors and senior engineers being incompetent compared to global standards.
Why? Because it's a European company!
They need too make the 787-10ER
Also KLM (airf france group) is in a big fight with boeing due to the Delay and quality issues on the B787. They are seeking compensation and were expecting discounts on the 737Max family but boeing refused both. Not very suprised they are now siding Airbus.
Airbus consistently deliver. Boeing don't or deliver non airworthy product. It's a no brained really
So basically, the A350 is just better
Simple answer:
The A350 didnt have a grounded delivery line from the faa with dozens of quality issues – Boeing has way too many quality issues
Please change the sound of the text showing. It sounds too similar to my bell
I don't like Boeing's YOKE
An European airline will choose an European made jet. Politics, politics, politics…. and protectionism.
Don't even have to watch the video
Easy….it was cheaper
The 4th reason – Airbus is a European company owned by France company and other companies over there.
Too many pop up ads.
The move to Airbus platforms is a positive and solid move. These craft are much more advanced and reliable than their competitors
There's a simple reason why KLM wanted an Airbus instead of a Boeing: They didn't want it falling out of the sky.
I am no airline expert, but this video raises a few questions in my simple brain. 1) An airline fleet is planned decades into the future. It seems awfully shortsighted to base long-term fleet decisions on one current war. Never in the history of mankind has there been a period of total peace. Wars come and go; they always have and they always will. The aircraft under discussion will be delivered over the next 10+ years, and they will have a lifespan of 25-40 years. Meanwhile, the Russian invasion of Ukraine will likely (hopefully) be decided in just a year or so, well before the first aircraft is even delivered. 2) AFAIK, Airbus is heavily owned by a handful of European governments, including France. How much does this impact decisions by European airlines? I have not done the math, but I would expect that USA airlines have more Boeing aircraft, while European airlines have more Airbus aircraft. Even without government ownership, that just seems like a logical distribution. Am I wrong? 3) I am not a conspiracy nut, but is it possible that a briefcase full of cash placed in the right hand(s) might cause a company to choose Aircraft A over Aircraft B? (The variables were meant to be arbitrary. Sorry that they just happen to correspond to the two airplane manufacturers. That is purely serendipitous!) I like to think that I am an honorable person. However, if I were an airline CEO approaching retirement, and an airplane manufacturer handed me $500 million in untraceable cash, I could see myself changing my vote on a close issue.
It makes more sense for KLM to stay with the Airbus family for common pilot training. The Airbus flight decks are designed for ease of cross crew training. Moving from the A320 to the A350 takes fewer sim sessions due to the similarities in flight decks.
beacuse its better
Boeing are shit, enough said
im feeling the option for 40 more a350 is a backup if the boeing purchase does not work out. whats more surprising is boeing. normally you think – big wide-bodies, go boeing, easy choice. times are changing!
Retired airline EVP; two words come to mind, range and politics…
Wait when this came out wasn’t it the other way around? Funny mistake
The most stupid things to do was going for the a350 and 320neo. The a330 and 772 had already kind of replaced with some 787's. The 737-700 is partly replaced by the E295. So it's logic when they decided the a330 would be fully retired to have more 787 and to buy it for the 772. The a350 is also a replacement for the 773 (due the options on the order). So they are going for an all airbus fleet. This idea came from ben smith. He wants fully integration of KLM into airfrence. That's why Elbers was forced to go and why aiirbus planes are taking over. To be fair: a320Neo don't have the capacity of the 737MAX8/9 and the a 321NEO seems to have the same capacity compared to the MAX10. But a normal a321 has cramped seats ar 218 in total. So i don't think it's that comfy with 230 and 232 at Transavia. Besides the a35K in terms of performance has a bit less seats compared to the mighty 777-9 and an a35k used 10% more fuel than the B777-9. The freight version of the a350 is also less efficient than it's Boeing counterpart. Why? Die it's lower capacity/ MTOW. A fully loaded a350f and a 777XF with the same amount of cargo has a view tons unused. That could be additional freight or more fuel wich result into greater range conoated to the a350F. So for me its obvious politics wich decide instead of competend people who prefer the extra 787 and kater 777X plan (KLM itself). Besides that maintenance will be going more to airfrence. That means possible job loss at some parts of KLM E/M. Our incompetent government who loves to screw local and big companies in every way possible (like KLM, Shell, farmers, healthcare, defense and school etc) will cause a predicted 10% loss of profit. It will become a big chaos for a view years until everything is changed to airbus. A lot of money wasted and airfrence got due bad results more influence into KLM. I think KLM won't exists for another 104 years. Maybe until 2030😭. I won't fly the a320 as protest towards air frence and this counts for the a350 to unless i don't have a choice.
One cannot rule out geopolitics. The Government of France is the primary policymaker in Airbus. So, you expect the French to make choices that favour Airbus over Boeing. Just like the Americans buy and fly more Boeings than Airbuses. Also, considering the regulatory challenges in the US regarding both the B737-MAX and the B787, it looks like time for more airlines to buy Airbuses, which seem to have avoided similar bureaucratic challenges.
The main reason was the Nordstream pipeline being blown up by the US
You missed a point, KLM has opted to replace the 737 NG withe A320/21 Neo which means they have reduced pilot training costs with a A320 / A350 combo compared with a A320 / 787 combo.
8:59 KLM already flies the 787-10, and are expecting a few more next year. I can see them ordering the 777-9 as a replacement for their 777-300ER's, but those are relatively young still.
9:30 KLM mainly flew te 747 because of its range, not its capacity per se.
I guess all the 787s I saw in KLM livery were just a hallucination.
A very good video. Thanks.
A350 is far superior plane as compare to 787!! My friend is a captain and he tells me that A350 is a dream machine.
An order of the government
As an engineer who works both on the A350 and 787. Trust me, the A350 is in another league: system integration, reliability and passenger comfort. It is very good out of box whereas Boeing are still applying sticking plasters to their highly strung Screamliner.
Both aircraft are equivalent
You don't need a 11minute video to explain
They chose the A350 because:-
1. They got a better price than Boeing
2. They got early production slots. Meaning they could get their aircraft into service earlier
3. The aircraft are more suited to the stage length of their routes
4. They match better with their existing fleet
KLM a dutch company doesnt like americans overseas interventions, and wars all over the globe, we dutch dont want to finance american wars, and the boeing 787 being know to crash. we chose the more reliable airbus, and therefore we stimulate european economy. Especially America blew up the nordstream2. yankees go away from europe.
When KLM wanted to fly the Fokker 100, Boeing played very dirty games.
Like losing landing rights in America.
KLM has certainly not forgotten that.
got to check what they fly for my next trip…
5:30 why 5000+8000 = 6000?
All the 3 reasons you presented to explain why KLM took A350 instead B787 are really silly :
1. Range: the air space restrictions against Russia won t last forever,
2 : Price depends on the volume negotiation with Boeing and Airbus, not if one has lower peice list than another,
3 : Delivery time doesn t mean the final criteria for choosing Airbus or Boeing, it depends more what you already have in your fleet
Initially I have been surprised AF/KLM went all A350, but on second thought it made sense due to the increased distances that a 787-10 can't handle. Adding the 777-9 depends on the load factors achieved with the A350 fleet. Should it turn out, that the demand is larger than the seat miles available a 777-9 purchase might be possible, although with a delivery somewhen at the end of the decade, what makes an A350-1000 purchase way, way, way more attractive from an operations point of view.
Because it's better. Duh…
Simple. Because airbus is the best❤
You can’t trust Boeing anymore for safe aircraft
Because an A 350 is the better choice to replace 777's, AF has the combination 787/ A 350.
Finally they choose the aircraft needed instead of pilot preferences.
Considering the amount of A 350's ordered and optional, it could very well be they skip the 779.
I truly believe KLM goes for a lot of A 350-1000's, if you look at the european fleet they choose the A 321-NEO to replace mostly 737-800ng's.
And why should they buy a small amount of 779's?They have 16x 300 ER's and a 779 is very expensive!
Also i don't believe AF wil take the 77X so Boeing has to wait for a long while.
They might need some a380s if the movement restrictions come
And then there is the elusive second stretched A350. It's difficult to read Airbus' intention for the mid term. The silence around R&R's UltraFan engine isn't helping either. Should Airbus finally make up their mind and R&R is getting their act together, then the second stretched A350 with UltraFan engines would be a superior product compared to Boeing' 777-9. Bottom line Boeing better hurries to finally get the 777-9 out of the door. Their window of opportunity is closing fast.
Loved the A350 experience, heathrow>jfk. silence is golden.
Return flight had a change of aircraft 787. shake rattle and roll !