The 7E7 is however Boeings response to Airbus' A330-200 which has, and still is, proving to be very successful. All the marketing from Boeing regarding 20%+ efficiency savings quoted are not against the A330-200 and more likely to be the outgoing B767. If you truely compare the A330-200 and B7E7 the dreamliner really isn't that much more efficient.
Technology is always moving forward so each airframer will always strive to implement this technology, so it is inevitable that there will be another aircraft from Airbus in the future.
The two governments need to sit down, have a little chat and come up with new guide lines but levelling the playing field will have an equally large impact on the US as it will on the UK. You have to remember that the B747 was mostly paid for as a military transport project yet that has been Boeings biggest cashcow for the last 30 years which has enabled Boeing to sell its other aircraft with huge discounts. Today the aerospace is a global industry much more today than it was 30 years ago so guidelines need to be drawn up taking that fully into account and not to try and benefit a few single members of that community.
Wino, You said europe just turns out failure after failure after failure in terms of a/c. Which are these and if so why is the Airbus order book so big? In terms of repayeble loans these have certainly been paid back for A320, and the earlier A330/A340 aircraft already. The more modern a/c are soon to be paid back too. All of these have been at higher rates of interest than Airbus could have got had they gone to financial institutions rather than the governments.
As I said before, both airframers need each other to keep aircraft developing. It would be good if a few other manufacturers were in there too. Just what the whole industry doesn't need at the moment is a few politicians who don't really know what is going on mouthing off just for their own personally publicity. Lets get the dialogue going again between all those involved and keep it away from publicity hungry "desperate to keep their job" politicians and a slaging match in the press and get back to what we all do best and build some planes!