COMPETITION between aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus spilt over into personal slurs at Farnborough International Air Show this week.
Boeing president Ron Woodard claimed that every time a named Airbus executive spoke 'his nose grew longer' and he disputed the categories used by the four-nation European consortium to measure market share.
In response, Airbus president Jean Pierson snapped back: 'Arrogance does not equal competence'. And he vowed that Airbus would grab from Boeing its 80 per cent market share in China.
The bitter battle between the two firms comes as Airbus reaches the stage where it has a full range of aircraft from small transnational airliners to extreme-range jets capable of the longest inter-continental flights.
Boeing is just launching the 777 airliner, which did not fly at Farnborough, and the aircraft maker which has dominated the world market for the last 20 years is acting worried.
Mr Pierson said he had more than achieved the targets he set himself when he took the top job in European aerospace in 1985. 'When I joined, we had market share of 10 per cent . . . I declared we would reach 30 per cent in 10 years.' 'In 1992, we delivered 35 per cent compared with Boeing. In 1993, our share was 42 per cent and on Boeing's figure of 260 deliveries this year-end we expect to have a 50 per cent share - that is our goal.' In the past, Farnborough was mainly about the military but now with the fall of the wall, the civil side of the business dominates.