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Boeing's new 787 has an official challenger. Airbus' major shareholders yesterday approved the launch of the new A350.

Airbus listed 140 "firm commitments" for the airplane and said it would soon turn those into orders. Noël Forgeard, chairman of European Aeronautic Defence & Space (EADS), parent of Airbus, said he expects to have 200 firm orders on the books by year end.

The A350 is scheduled to enter service by 2010. The first versions of the 787 will enter service two years earlier.

Boeing has 174 firm orders plus 99 publicly announced commitments to buy.

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Using the configuration data supplied by Airbus, the smaller A350-800 would compete directly with the 787; the larger A350-900 would go head-to-head with the 777-200.

However, Boeing's vice president of marketing, Randy Baseler, said Airbus is exaggerating its seating projections and that the larger A350 won't match up against the 777.

He claimed, instead, the plane's number of passengers would be comparable to that of the stretch version of the 787, the 787-9.

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Boeing 787-8
Passengers: 223
Range: 8,500nm
List Price: $130 Million

Boeing 787-9
Passengers: 259
Range: 8,300nm
List Price: ~$150 Million

Boeing 777-200ER
Passengers: 300
Range: 7,700nm
List Price: $180 Million

Airbus A350-800
Passengers: 253
Range: 8,800nm
List Price: $162 Million

Airbus A350-900
Passengers: 300 (claimed)
Range: 7,500nm
List Price: $180 Million

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