ANA orders 40 Boeing, 30 Airbus planes

This is a great order. The 777x is an improvement on an already great aircraft. It has the right amount of capacity for us. That and the flight deck commonality with the 787 means pilots qualified to fly both aircraft, giving greater crew resource flexibility. The Airbus order is not as much as coup as some might think. We were already an A320 operator. This order renews the fleet while adding capacity in that particular segment. The A321neo, especially, will be good as it fits well on routes where a 737-8 is not enough, and a 767-200 is too much.

"Ito hinted the US manufacturers 777 model was simply a better plane than the equivalent produced by its European rival."

Let me translate that into realspeak: The 777 has greater Japanese content from Japanese suppliers, and that's why the Japanese gov't instructed us to order the Boeing rather than the Airbus.

Let me translate that into realspeak: The 777 has greater Japanese content from Japanese suppliers, and that's why the Japanese gov't instructed us to order the Boeing rather than the Airbus.

You have no idea of what you saying. The A350 does have the capacity to serve ANA, but it does not make sense to replace one model of aircraft with something completely different. During the transition from one model to another you would have two separate groups of crews and need to maintain two very different airframes. That would go on for several years which would eat into profits.

"it does not make sense to replace one model of aircraft with something completely different."

Really? The Boeings I used to cross the Pacific on in the 80s and 90s have mostly been replaced by Airbuses. So other airlines in other countries do it, why not Japan? The US and Canadian legacy carriers, for example, would still be flying Boeings almost exclusively if you were right.

Anyway, the Japanese market until now had a Boeing "stranglehold," as the article states. That stranglehold was due to politics and collusion, not engineering or economics.

@Jeff - Other than SQ, who fly the A380 daily to Los Angeles, I am struggling to think of another carrier that uses an Airbus between Japan and the US.

"I am struggling to think of another carrier that uses an Airbus between Japan and the US."

In my case, Air Canada. (North America), and also Delta NRT to Seattle (on the 330). Mind you, I just checked and AC has since switched over Boeing. Still, the point remains, they're not too concerned about acquiring differing airframes, and I can tell you, both those carriers are keen on cutting costs!

"The order includes 14 of Boeing’s troubled Dreamliner"

Apparently ANA doesn't consider the Dreamliner to be troubled.