I think Thunderball 2 has it about right. The 7E7 will almost inevitably show superior economics to the A350 - it will be lighter and faster plus have superior payload-range. But the A350 will come close and having just one third the R+D should be well priced. Allied to Airbus CCQ and other commonality it will pick up some orders. However, the aircraft it will do most damage to is, of course, the A330-200. The A332 might well have finally put the 763ER out of business but it hasn't come close to matching that aircraft's sales record (265 A332 vs 514 763ER) and I doubt it has yet achieved the programme breakeven on which launch approval was based. Boeing have succeeded in forcing Airbus to spend another $3bn on an A332 derivative to maintain competition against the B763ERs successor the B7E7 well before they would otherwise have planned to. Prediction: the 7E7 will outsell the A350 3 to 1!
