Now, the Poor Man's Jumbo Jet

Eastern Air Lines tests the European model

South Florida's Everglades Jetport is a fancy name for a concrete runway in the middle of nowhere. For the past few weeks 70 Eastern Air Lines pilots have been shooting practice landings there to familiarize themselves with the A300 Airbus, a twin-engine, European-made wide-bodied jet. Eastern plans to introduce four of the 229-passenger, 600 m.p.h. planes for a six-month trial on its prime New York-Florida routes in time for the Christmas rush. If all goes well, says President Frank Borman, Eastern may buy as many as 50 Airbuses at $25 million each to replace aging Boeing 727s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9s.

That $1.25 billion sale would represent an enormous victory for Airbus Industrie, a French-German-Spanish company that is now struggling to keep production lines open and sell enough planes to break even. No European-made passenger jets have been bought by U.S. carriers since the 1960s, when American Airlines and several other carriers took delivery of a flock of British BAC One-Elevens, and United purchased 20 French Caravelles. To win the key Eastern sale, Airbus Industrie offered the airline an in expensive lease deal to try out the planes.

Eastern hopes that the Airbus will prove as popular with passengers in America as it has proved in Europe. There, the plane's eight-abreast coach seating and smooth ride have given it the nickname "the poor man's 747." Before buying it, however, Eastern wants to be certain that the Airbus will match under U.S. operating conditions the economies reported by European airlines. Airbus-Industrie claims that the plane's two huge fan jet engines are terrific fuel conservers, burning approximately 25% less fuel per seat-mile than do the three engines of such competing jets as Lockheed's L-1011 TriStar. Eastern also wants to make sure that spare parts will be freely available across the Atlantic--although parts should not be a major problem. About 83% of the plane's consumable spares are produced in the U.S., and one-third of the plane as a whole--including its General Electric engines--is American made.

Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed, which have long considered the U.S. plane market their own, have reacted to this new European threat by bad-mouthing the Airbus as ill suited to the needs of U.S. airlines. Despite its size, the Airbus is basically a medium-range jet, and American planemakers contend that there are no routes in the U.S. where traffic would be heavy enough to fill a profitable percentage of its seats consistently. Eastern seems willing to take the gamble, however, and U.S. planemakers are apparently afraid that other European jets may eventually follow the Airbus into the American market. To ward off that long-term threat, Boeing, the giant of the U.S. industry, has sent ace international Salesman E.H. ("Tex") Boullioun to Britain. His mission: to explore possibilities for future collaboration with a British-led European consortium to develop a new generation of commercial jets for the 1980s.

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