It's not mentioned because the planes are so different that there is little point in comparing them? A350 is 3x larger, has 2x the range, and is 4x the price. Seems to me that the use cases they've been designed for have to be completely different, and one can in no way be substituted with the other.
But the article does say that Airbus and Boeing each had a major project in recent years (A380 and 787) and they're unlikely to have anything major for the next decade. A350 sounds pretty major to me.
I wonder if Boeing and Airbus will increase the pace of new plane releases...
The A380 and B787 introductions were very rocky, with delays added to delays added to delays. On the other hand so far the testing of the A350 as been incredibly smooth.
I know that it's too early to draw any conclusion, and that the A350 is still one year from EIS. But when you take into account the actual competence of making a new plane, and how quickly it can be lost, I wouldn't be surprised if the lesson learned is that it is more economical for Airbus and Boeing to release new planes more often...
Well, the A350 has a long and painful history, it should have flown for years if customers had not threatened to boycott it. I can't see a fast release schedule, considering the price of developing a new plane.
You are right that Airbus had a hard time figuring out which plane to make, rushing a couple of A350 concepts before settling on the so called A350-XWB.
But once it was settled the engineering went smoothly. Or, should I say, has been going smoothly so far.
The skills involved in designing a plane are vastly different from that of figuring out which plane your customers will want 5 to 30 years from now.
