Seattle Post Intelligencer reports on Airbus’s relentless efforts to “crack the Japanese market”

Seattle Post Intelligencer reports on Airbus’s relentless efforts to “crack the Japanese market”, in which Boeing enjoys near-monopoly. All Nippon Airways (ANA) is seriously considering the Airbus A380, and an order would be a “major blow to Boeing”, says the US paper, all the more as it is pitting its new 747-8 against the European superjumbo. So far, only Lufthansa has ordered the new passenger model. “There is increasing pressure on Boeing to get that second customer”, comments analyst Richard Aboulafia, of Teal Group. Besides, Airbus chief commercial officer John Leahy has pledged he would never give up on his ambition to break up Boeing’s stranglehold in Japan. Still, assesses Mr Aboulafia, Boeing will do all it can “to keep the number of Airbus wide-body planes in Japan at zero”. Seattle Post Intelligencer (09/07)