Gibney85, thanks for your response. Much appreciated. I would however be interested in knowing where you've got the idea that Airbus is not up to Boeing's level of success and innovation. My opinion is different to yours on this point, and I'm not saying one manufactures is better than the other, and as you will see in other posts I have made I fully support competition and thus hope for success for both Boeing and Airbus. But still, Airbus is a much newer company than Boeing, thus it's commercial success must be calculated taking into account that its aircraft have been on the market for less time than Boeing, then compare number of aircraft ordered and in service around the worl and you'll see Airbus is really quite successful. Innovation, Lemurian has already posted some of the European manufactures innovations, so there is no need to say more. And also, perhaps we should remember the history behind Airbus, before the company "Airbus" or EADS even existed. There is a great aeronautical history behind the company... Concorde, the beautiful "Caravelle"...
On your point of ugliness, I find Airbus aircraft to be quite attractive, that just my opinion. Personnally, the most beautiful commercial aircraft in my opinion are the A340, Boeing 727, Concorde and the Caravelle...
