Aviation Week analyses the upcoming “narrow-bodies battle” as plane manufacturers are considering future product strategies.

Aviation Week analyses the upcoming “narrow-bodies battle” as plane manufacturers are considering future product strategies. Airbus and Boeing face “increasingly tough production decisions” as they try to elaborate strategies for the end of the next decade. With the introduction of Bombardier’s C-Series, there is new competition in the single-aisle segment. Besides, engine makers are stepping up pressure on the plane manufacturers with “mixed messages”. Airbus and Boeing will have to consider a wide array of engine candidates -ranging from the traditional CFM International Leap-X, to Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan and to Rolls-Royce’s open rotor. The magazine says Airbus would be more open to Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan as a mid-term improvement for its A320. John Leahy, chief commercial officer, hinted at a possible reengining within two and a half to three years. Still, both Airbus and Boeing -who are employing a “wait-and-see position” for now- agree that brand new A320s and B737s would not come to the market until a 2017-2020 timeframe. All the more as the order books for their respective models are full… Airlines, for their part, are increasingly looking to improve the fuel performances of their fleets. Aviation Week (21/07)