Originally Posted by
tdracer
DR, I think you need to consider the cause and effect at play - would Boeing abandon the passenger 747-8 if they saw a significant market there?
No, the question is: would Boeing have abandoned the pax B748 if they saw a market capable of supporting
two competitors? Nobody seriously thinks there is, it was just Boeing who blinked first, as everyone expected.
Originally Posted by
tdracer
Airbus thought they could sell a bunch of A380s to replace old 747s - but that didn't happen. Most operators are replacing their old 747s with big twins, not new A380s or 747s.
Both parts of that statement are undoubtedly true (and you could equally say that Boeing thought they could sell a bunch of B748s to replace old 747s). But to imply, as Boeing's forecast does, that Airbus are only going to sell an average of 3 A380s per year over the next 20 years sounds awfully like sour grapes.