New York (AFP)

By ordering fifty A321XLR, Airbus' new medium-capacity airliner, United Airlines has not only awarded Boeing a European aircraft manufacturer, but has also exposed a gaping hole in the American aerospace giant's range, entangled in the crisis. 737 MAX.

"This is a big setback for Boeing, which sees an important source of revenue from competition," said Michel Merluzeau, an expert at Air Insight Research.

Especially since United Airlines had always bought Boeing single-aisle aircraft since its merger with Continental in 2010, says Scott Hamilton at Leeham.

United Airlines said that the A321XLR, which will be delivered to it from 2024, will replace its Boeing 757-200 to be removed from the flight programs.

The company turned to Airbus because "Boeing does not currently offer any aircraft to replace the 757," said a source familiar with the matter to AFP.

- New lines -

Busy to get the 737 MAX back in the global sky since mid-March after two tragedies that left 346 dead, Boeing had to postpone to 2020 a possible launch announcement of the "NMA" (New Model Aircraft). This aircraft is supposed to replace the aging 757 and 767 on the middle of the market or "Middle of Market" (MoM).

Airbus took the opportunity to launch the A321XLR, which offers companies the opportunity to open new long-haul routes between secondary cities with a single aisle, cheaper, easier to fill and therefore more profitable.

It can travel up to 8,700 kilometers in 9 hours, thanks to larger tanks, much more than the Boeing 737 MAX, of which United is one of the customers, with 14 copies.

United plans to offer direct flights to German, French, Spanish and Portuguese secondary cities in the future from Newark, New Jersey, New York, and Washington Dulles, the federal capital.

"We are proud of our long-standing partnership with United Airlines," said Boeing.

"The A321XLR is an aircraft that influences the strategy of airlines, which will be able to offer direct flights to new destinations and increase the price of airline tickets to these lines," said Richard Aboulafia at Teal Group, adding that Boeing must react "quickly" if it does not want to lose new customers.

Delta Air Lines, a major Boeing 757 and 767 customer with approximately 200 aircraft, has committed to investing billions of dollars over the next five years to modernize its fleet.

The airline has been encouraging Boeing for many months to launch a mid-size airliner.

- "Strategic error" -

"Boeing has not yet made a decision to launch this plane, and we hope they will do it (...) because we are very interested," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in March.

For Michel Merluzeau, "it is imperative that Boeing does not lose Delta", especially as the company Southwest, first customer of the 737 MAX, no longer excludes buying Airbus to support its development, relying so far on Boeing.

"The + NMA + is an essential aircraft for the strategic development of Boeing," says the expert, for whom the absence of a market-middle aircraft in the US group's product line would be "a strategic mistake" with impact on its ability to compete with Airbus over the long term.

"If there had not been the crisis of the MAX, we would have more certainty on the NMA," he insists.

The setbacks of the 737 MAX have allowed Airbus to gain the upper hand this year over its eternal American rival in terms of orders (542 aircraft at the end of October against -95) and deliveries (648 aircraft against 321).

Airbus dominates Boeing in single-aisle aircraft, with the A320 family facing the 737, and is catching up in large aircraft thanks to the A350 and Boeing's problems with the 777X and the lack of orders from the Boeing. China for the 787 Dreamliner.

Boeing, which had to cut MAX's production and suspend deliveries, can be comforted by the fact that there have been no major cancellations of orders, despite the frustrations of airlines, forced to cancel hundreds of thousands of flights.

The American aircraft manufacturer has even seemed to regain footing, recording intentions of surprise orders for the MAX at the Paris Air Show in June and recently in Dubai.

© 2019 AFP