Now, Airbus is preparing to introduce upgraded avionics and other systems that would bring its plane’s features closer to those offered in Boeing’s upgraded 737 Max, which is slated to begin commercial flights in 2017, said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group, a Fairfax, Virginia-based consultant. “This is something they’ve always done,” Aboulafia said in a phone interview. “Boeing tends to launch all of its big changes in one block. Airbus has more of a rolling update approach.”

Airbus is still working out its strategy in the segment that the 767 and 787 occupies. The airframer is officially set on delivering the A350-800, but is also entertaining calls for a re-engined A330. The future of the 767 passenger variant is feasible only if Airbus remains locked on the A350-800 option, says Richard Aboulafia, vice-president of analysis at the Teal Group. “If Airbus doesn’t re-engine the A330, then maybe [the passenger 767 has a future],” he says. An A330neo would occupy shorter routes of 5,000nm (9,270km) or less in the passenger class – closer to the 767-300ER. “Then [the passenger 767] ends,” Aboulafia adds.

Richard Aboulafia, aviation consultant with Fairfax, Va.-based Teal Group, said that partnerships between Western and Chinese aviation companies have tended to unravel over time because of intellectual-property issues.

“It sounds like [the Boeing] 787, 747-8 and [Lockheed Martin] F-35 to me,” says Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis at the Teal Group, referring to programs that had to incorporate late design changes during production ramp-up. “If you are missing important milestones, you get beaten up by the financial markets or your customers. . . . You want to meet time guarantees more than performance guarantees.” Introducing upgrades later in production while keeping the schedule intact “is more of a problem in the long term,” Aboulafia asserts. One of the major issues of putting risks on balance sheets is the question of residual values, which become relevant when an operator plans to sell an early-batch A350. The approach is also very expensive, both for Airbus and its suppliers.