Based on the premise that airline traffic is going to increase over the next decade and there is a finite number of runways / airports, how else is the paying public going to travel but in even larger aircraft?
Expensive and long lead they may be. They are also inevitable. Boeing seems to have lost it's cutting edge since Mr. Boeing went to the big aircraft factory in the sky. He literally bet the future of Boeing on the 747. The corporate bods in charge now don't want to take the next leap, preferring to create aircraft which serve an existing market better rather than expanding the market as Airbus want to do.
Do the assorted Mriya's have the cruise speed, maintenance backup and Western certification that an Airbus or Boeing product has / will have? Until they do, they will remain also-ran's in the passenger market.
Edited for spelling as usual
[This message has been edited by LowNSlow (edited 17 November 2000).]