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John Leahy thinks airlines and passengers will pay more for amenities like in-flight casinos, bars and shopping
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John Leahy is a born salesman. He locks onto you with his intense blue eyes, waves his arms, leans forward to stress a point, and, mainly, talks, talks, talks about his product. For the past six years, this transplanted Yank has been giving Boeing big headaches by leading Europe's Airbus Integrated Co. into a neck-and-neck sales battle with the Seattle aviation giant. Now Airbus is taking aim at Boeing's venerable cash cow, the 747 jumbo jet, by developing its superjumbo A3XX, a 555-seat, three-deck flying cruise ship boasting onboard casinos, exercise rooms, piano bars and duty free shops. Boeing has responded with a stretch version of the 747, capable of hauling up to 520 passengers versus 420 for the current model. Seldom have the transatlantic rivals gone after each other so directly — and so intensely.
Airbus is taking a huge gamble on the A3XX. The company must sell 250 planes to recoup development costs of nearly $11 billion. Airbus estimates demand for super-jumbos over the next 20 years at more than 1,500 aircraft — three times the Boeing forecast. Boeing sees the future market fragmenting, with smaller, shorter-haul planes picking up much of the new business.
Just in case they're wrong, the boys in Seattle are hedging their bets by sinking some $4 billion into developing the new stretch jumbo. "Our view," Boeing chairman Phil Condit said recently, "is that this market is far better addressed by a derivative product that takes advantage of what we have than it is with an all-new airplane." One big advantage for Boeing: the 747X could be ready for delivery as early as 2001 — four years ahead of its rival.
Airbus says the A3XX will cost $230 million, while Boeing estimates that the 747X will cost substantially more than the roughly $185 million for a regular 747. Being first to market could give Boeing an edge, but Airbus is near the number of firm orders it says it needs to commit to a full-scale launch.
Eager to tout the merits of his new plane, Leahy agreed to give TIME an exclusive look inside a full-scale mock-up of the future A3XX. The shiny white craft sits wingless but majestic in a hangar at Airbus' Toulouse headquarters, guarded by heavy security. At the top of the boarding ramp, Leahy swings open a sliding door, and we enter the first-class cabin.
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Directly in front of the door, there is a double staircase with brass handrails and beige carpeting leading to the upper deck. Both walls in the forward part of the cabin are lined with clubby wooden bookshelves and black leather couches. Just behind the cockpit, there is a spacious bathroom with a toilet and full-sized shower. In the space under the stairs there is a sleek bar with eight stools. The windows are covered with venetian blinds, and the cabin's mood lighting changes colors at the flick of a switch. Farther back in the cabin are six first-class seats — actually rotating, futuristic-looking pods that can fold into full-sized beds. Each seat is equipped with its own communications unit — a combination telephone, video console and computer, hooked up to the Internet, of course.
Leahy explains that the A3XX has two full passenger levels, "like two planes flying together." He opens the door at the rear of the first-class cabin and reveals a cavernous empty space, some 50 meters long, where the economy passengers will be seated in a double aisle configuration with three seats on each side and four in the middle. For now, the interior is bare plywood and silvery insulation. Unfortunately, the mock-up builders haven't had time to put the casino, shops or exercise rooms down in the cargo hold, but artist's renditions show what they might look like.
Back in the first-class cabin, Leahy takes a seat at the bar and toys with an empty champagne glass. "When airline executives come in here and see all this, they become enamored," he says. "People who think they'll just cram in seats haven't thought it through. I haven't had anybody tell me to rip all this out and put in more seats. They know it's the cruise-ship quality that gives them the competitive edge with the high-end customer. Once people fly this plane, they'll never look back."
Leahy makes a persuasive case. But then, so do his rivals at Boeing. Whether Airbus' big bet hits the jackpot or goes bust depends on how the numbers fall. For now, the roulette wheel is still spinning.
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