Originally Posted by vilas;10967152t
John Leahy ex CCO of Airbus said A380 was undone because when they launched in 2000 the engine manufacturers offered them engines which according to them was the most economical and anything better was atleast ten years away. But in three years the engine manufacturers turned out new engines for B787 which was 12% better in SFC. B737 was also undone by new engine technology in a different way. The 1960s low wing aircraft was unsuitable for high bypass engine era. Had Boeing anticipated this they should not have made 800 series itself but built a new aeroplane which being later generation aircraft may be even outlasted Airbus neo. Unfortunately they had gone for widebody 787 and by the time it turned profitable Boeing was left with no gumption to invest in another new aircraft. They hurriedly did another plastic surgery on the old lady which turned out very nasty and apart from financial damage has even destroyed their credibility and reputation.
Just a small point on the engine issue. The Airbus A320 and 321 NEO’s suffer from a similar if not the same issue and it’s actually worse on the Airbus because the aircraft could in fact become unstable. This was not caught until the aircraft was in service and it required the CG be restricted by blocking the last seat rows on many configurations. They were attempting to address this and remove the CG restriction via software. I am not sure if this has been completed. MCAS was primarily designed to insure the aircraft handled like the 800 and would not require any pilot simulator training for the transition. In fact Boeing promised SWA that no simulator differences training would be required. SWA wrote a 1 million dollar per aircraft penalty into their purchase contract if even 1 sim session would be mandated by the FAA. The rest is history.