Rananim said:
[ I wish Airbus the best of luck...I dont like their aircraft but they are innovative and pushing the envelope in design and experimentation and thats gutsy and deserves praise ] The A380 is definitiely an ambitious airplane - particularly given the fact that it is literally almost totally hogged out of solid stock - with this project AIRBUS has acquired an expertise in high speed machining & the proven GLARE technology - now, how are you going to repair your integral wingskins & wingrib hogouts & and holes in glass reinforced aluminum ?? ?
[ Personally I wouldnt want to travel with 800 other people ]
The superlarge aircraft is a risky business strategy in an economy of unpredictable load factors - further you need alot of people to close the business case - if anyone "steals" the first class or business traveler - god help the A380 ..who could that be, well possibly the other folks in France, Dassault with their super sonic business jet, or the folks in Los Angeles at Northrup who have a Super Sonic BBJ in the wind tunnel two years ago .. but, UPS & FEDEX will buy them as bulk freighters .., like they did the MD-11
The wonderful 757 DIED because although it was the best balance of power, safety, reliability and handling, the airlines learned to not like it because it was too damn hard to get turned around - hence it ended up owning the charter market where nobody cares about turn times ..
[Aesthetically,the plane is not a success...the lines just arent right on the thing...its profile is not too bad but front on its plain ugly...is that important?] The A380 IS DESIGNED TO FIT in todays airports - hence its "fatboy" lines
[ The cabin will be to a good standard if their previous aircraft are anything to go by] AIRBUS has not gotten their airconditioning right - even on the newer models - hence the purser stations crammed with stripchart recorders on SAS A340-300s & instrumentation & heater galley floors - to compensate for the cold strata in the cabin
[ but will pale in comparison to the luxury of the 7E7] Cattle class - is - cattle class, what ever AIRBUS OR BOEING cook up interior wise - the airlines will destroy looking through their seat density glasses
[...Boeing,having built the "perfect" plane in terms of flightdeck ergonomics ] FOrget the "perfect" flight deck - the 7E7 is an unbelievable step forward in terms of systems & structures for conservative - stoggy as hell Boeing - in terms of technology - so much so - Im not convinced that Boeing will even build it. Must be a sales job before they spin off their commercial division to someone like General Motors OR Ford - IE someone who are masters at beating up their suppliers ..IE maybe another "Sonic Cruiser" .. but they do have a nice composite prototype body section .. If they do build it & fuel prices stay where they are - airlines will run from tin birds ...they wont have any choice .. AIRBUS will be 4 years behind the Boeing in terms if IR&D & will never catch up .. It will be the TRISTAR story all over .. regardless of how good it was - it was too late & the inferior DC-10 sucked up the market share..