Interesting discussion. History has a way of repeating itself. The A-380 story has many parallels to the DC-10/L-1011 development. Both Lockheed and Douglas had a limited market for a 3 engine wide body aircraft. Both manufacturers didn’t want its competitor to control the market so each built an aircraft that would insure a split market at best, and sales would never reach a profitable level. In the end the decision to build both aircraft led to the demise of Lockheed’s commercial division and was a huge financial burden to McD. I know Airbus believed there was a market for a super-jumbo, but as long as Boeing was still building the 747, most sales would be split, and profit margins shaved due to underbidding etc...couple this with the fact that the costs of building the 380 was quite expensive vice the 747, due to various reasons other posters have mentioned, and one has the recipe for financial and market failure.