AIRBUS VS. BOEING

The biggest splash at the Paris Air Show in June was made by Airbus's A380 superjumbojet, though its maiden flight was a few months earlier. The massive plane, designed to carry 555 to 800 passengers, wowed onlookers, who were amazed at how quiet it was.

But all was not quiet at Airbus's Toulouse, France, headquarters. Instead of emerging dominant after outselling its archrival Boeing in world markets for four of the last five years, Airbus may have made missteps that let Boeing, now headquartered in Chicago, back into the game.

The A380, intended to be Airbus's flagship and to displace the Boeing 747 as the world's long-haul carrier of choice, has cost three billion (of Euros) more than intended; is six months behind schedule; and, despite designers' best efforts, is still way too heavy to land at most airports without damaging runways or endangering passengers.

As recently as a year ago, it wasn't clear that Boeing would ever build its 787 Dreamliner, the midsize jet it was envisioning as its new standard-bearer. But advance sales of the sleek new 300-passenger jet have been brisk. Airbus , now worried about abandoning the medium-haul market to Boeing, petitioned the European Union for money to design and build a direct competitor, the A350.

That sparked suits and countersuits at the World Trade Organization, with the U.S. government saying that European subsidies are illegal and the EU countering that Boeing's military contracts and fax breaks amount to the same thing.

--Willie D. Jones