Neo vs. Mad Max: Who Wins the Battle Between Airbus and Boeing?

The clash of the aerospace titans continues.

A320neo with LEAP-1A engines.

Airbus’ A320neo recently received Type Certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the CFM International LEAP-1A engine.

Boeing 737 MAX undergoing final assembly. (Image courtesy of Boeing.)

Meanwhile, Boeing has reportedly been considering equipping its largest 737 MAX with the LEAP-1A engine as well, in an effort to compete with the success of the A321neo.

In an interview with Aviation Week, Airbus sales chief John Leahy stated that his company has been derisively referring to the modified 737 as the “Mad Max”. The French company is doing its best to show no fear at the prospect of its arch rival taking advantage of the high-efficiency LEAP-1A engine, but is the bravado justified?

The Ongoing Battle Between Airbus and Boeing

Replacing the 737 MAX 9’s standard LEAP-1B engine with the larger LEAP-1A would enable Boeing to increase its range and potentially add 12 extra seats to the 178-seat jet, giving it a small, but meaningful capacity advantage over the 185-seat A321neo.

Of course, the addition of larger engines would also have its downsides. For example, the landing gear would have to be raised or repositioned to accommodate the larger LEAP-1A engine fans. There’s also the lengthy and often expensive process of recertification for 737 parts and personnel to consider.

The battle between Airbus and Boeing has been fierce—the former sold 30 A321s to the Vietnamese airline VietJet last November, but the latter recently struck back with Vietnam’s largest ever commercial airplane purchase: an USD$11-billion order for 100 737 MAXs.

That’s just one example. You can see from the graph below how close the competition really is.

Source: Airbus and Boeing.

Who will win out in the latest skirmish between these two aerospace titans? Can Boeing recover from Airbus’ head start on the LEAP-1A engines? Tell us what you think in the comments below.