I had said: The 74 arrived at
just the right time to be the success it was.
Originally Posted by
His dudeness
So 1973 (oil shock) and the next following years were great for aviation?
No but it was just about the ONLY shock for the 747 and in your next statement:
There was just nothing that came close at the time and it took quite a time for the 340s/777s etc to arrive on the market.
You help to prove my point that it arrived at the right time.
The 380 is a niche product at huge costs IMHO and thats why it had a problem right from the start. And it is fugly. Nothing like the gracious lines of the 47, which still looks just right.
Yes it is and the niche was too small but, as I said, Airbus were
always going to build the big one and it might have succeeded. It is fugly but a friend of mine who works for a global travel company (a name you would all know) says that pax ask which rotations on a route are the 380.
But not enough in these changing times and the ultra long timescales of building aircraft. Bear in mind that countless other companies outside the airline world, have failed to adapt to the 21st Century. Mostly, their failures are small and do not make headlines - but they have also failed and lost money and put people out of work.