I never asserted that the Germany thing was technical......I agree its political. But it certainly is an ironic twist in the saga of the A380, at least to me.

What routes would they use them for?
Even on high traffic routes is seems airlines would rather have more frequent flights.
In the summer American flies two flights DFW to Gatwick.
The second airplane is a long paid for 767.
Likewise BA does two flights a day SEA-LHR in (again) long paid for 747-400s.
And two flights with different departure tiimes make a lot of sense in the US where customers are flying into the departure points from many distance cities. So as an example, someone leaving from Iowa and having to make two connecting flights to Dallas, a later, second departure makes a lot of sense.

In the off season, an airline would likely be faced with a lot of overcapity with a very expensive new aircraft to pay for.
The same rationale is probably the reason why 747-8 passenger sales are slow.

I'm not anti-A380, but it doesn't take a rocket science to predict there is a smaller market for mega transports than for 737/320s. I'd hope in the future rather than having two programs with (broadly) the same goals, that Boeing and Airbus would collaborate..t just makes sense for a very expensive program with a finite market.

No brickbats or incoming shells from me...
I was sitting through an particularly tedious outdoor assembly yesterday and was somewhat relieved when an A380 directly overflew on approach to Heathrow, showing off its incredible wingspan.
I think we'll see many hundreds of these beautiful aircraft eventually. Think of all the B747-400s nearing retirement which will need replacing. Mind you, a lot depends on how well Boeing does with the B747-8 (which I would also love to see flying over).
As good as the B777 is, it cannot entirely replace the big four-engined aircraft, I don't think.
Reply With Quote

The A380, 777, A350, A320, 737NG, A330/A340 A350 and all future aircraft to come were or will be designed using CAD software.

Quite so.

The long-haul business - including the cargo sector, let us not forget - has evolved considerably over the few decades.

Where they would once have been the norm, the 4-engined heavies are increasingly aiming at a niche market so far as intercontinental long haul is concerned.

At one time in history, even the 747 only had 200 orders.

Sandy, I agree with most of what you say. I would like to put it to you that the 'A' model of any aircraft never seems to sell that well.

In the future the price of oil will rise, airports will become congested with light twins (), and employee costs will still form a large portion of operating expenses.

I don't think the A380 will sell as many as the B747, but I do think it will make Airbus money, in the end.