Price check please.
For those of you waiting for Airbus to launch its Spring Savings Sale before plunking down cash for a new jetliner, you're out of luck. Struggling to deal with the seemingly endless slide of the US dollar, the European aircraft consortium recently announced that it's raising prices on its commercial airliners.
Airbus is getting screwed by the weak greenback because the company sells its planes in US dollars. Every time the dollar drops, it buys fewer and fewer Euros, which means less cash in the bank for Airbus, and any other foreign company that sells its products in dollars. Airbus says this leaves it no choice but to hike its prices, though the company points out its numbers are still competitive with those of archrival Boeing.
*See some sample pricing after the jump
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Airbus offers a complete price list on its website, and we've listed some of the company's more popular models below. The A318, 19, 20, and 21 series are single aisle planes; the A330, 340, and 350 are wide-body jets; and the A380 is Airbus' problem-plagued superjumbo. Obviously, all prices are in millions of dollars.
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A318__ $56.0-$62.1
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A319__ $63.3- $77.3
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A320__ $73.2-$80.6
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A321__ $87.7-$92.8
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A330-20__0 $176.3-$185.5
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A330-300__ $195.9- $205.7
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A340-300__ $211.8- $219.2
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A340-600__ $245.0- $253.7
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A350-800XWB $205.9-$211.5
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A350-1000XWB $267.0 -$272.2
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A380 __$317.2-$337.5
For comparison sake, Boeing's prices are listed below, and they match up pretty closely with those of its European rival. The 737 series is the company's extremely popular narrow-body jet -- all of the other listed models listed are two-aisle planes.
737-600 $50-$57
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737-900ER__ $74-$85
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747-400ER__ $228-$260
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747-8 __ $285-$300
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767-200__ $124.5-$135.5
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767-400 ER__ $154-$169
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777-200__ $200-$225
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777-300ER__ $250-$279
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787-3__ $146-151.5
787-9 $189-$200
One thing to keep in mind is that airlines rarely pay list price for new planes. Boeing and Airbus compete ferociously for business, and while specific numbers are rarely revealed, it's well known within the industry that both companies give customers Costco type discounts for buying in bulk.
Airbus now accepts Visa and Mastercard for purchases over $100,000,000, and it is widely expected that Boeing will follow suit.
Graphic: Airbus
