the B747 was mostly paid for as a military transport project yet that has been Boeings biggest cashcow for the last 30 years
I think it was in the book "Flying High" about Boeing that talked about how it took about 20 years for Boeing to pay off the 747 project. That was sometime around 1990, so it's only been a cash cow for the past 15 years. They did have some of the design work paid for from the military project, but no where near enough to complete an airliner. Boeing has had to basically mortgage the company for each of it's big aircraft projects.
With China and India developing more aircraft on their own, both Airbus and Boeing could find them selves with new competitors in another 20 or 30 years. Canada and Brazil are already starting to compete at the low end so I don't think airlines or consumers have to worry about a monopoly just yet.
goates