747 stretch?
I saw the article in Flight Int too....
It has always seemed to me that if there was a market for a "747-400/500/600", then Boeing would have been building it years ago! they were very close around the mid to late 90's witht the 500/600 proposal, but the price was way too high for the potential customers. If you stretch the 747 fuselage by more than a couple of metres, you need a bigger wing to carry the extra weight...bigger engines, aerodynamic tweaks to keep the fuel burn down to affordable levels...
Everyone uses a similar CAD system to design their aircraft, so if you put all this in, it will tell you to build a new aeroplane...something that looks uncannily like an A380!
To put it simply, Boeing have missed the boat! they had a chance to remodel the 747 over 10 years ago, but they just figured that the Europeans wouldnt go ahead with A3xx/A380, so they would have the market to themselves....
Now with the A380 about to fly, and into service around 2007, its too late. the best they can hope for is to sell a few 787's to a few Boeing -loyal airlines, while they get a 737 replacement off the drawing boards and into service...If they dont, with the 757 line winding down, and the 767 line hingeing on the USAF buy of KC-767,s they face oblivion...
I dont want to see Boeing leave the airliner market, i think competition is not only healthy, it essential to keep technology progressing. But Boeing must really pull their finger out NOW, or the only people making airliners bigger than 100 seats will be the guys and gals at Toulouse/Hamburg/Chester/Filton etc....