Well Wizard, one area of disagreement is that I don't believe there is a market for the A380, with all the attendant problems of terminal space, gates and modifications to taxiways and parking areas etc. Many B747 operators are moving down to the smaller B777 as their workhorse and don't feel anything bigger is now required, certainly not as their primary fleet anyway.
I don't think the claimed lower operating costs of the A380 will outweigh the additional expense of operating an outsize aircraft that very few airports worldwide are currently making any effort to accommodate.
If I am completely wrong and there is a market for the A380 or an aircraft of that size, how many such aircraft will the manufacturer need to sell just to break even? Something in the order of several hundreds I think, far more than have currently been ordered. Yes, there have been some firm orders for the A380 but, as I mentioned, major airlines are tending to move down rather than up in size for their backbone longhaul fleet.
Yes possibly a small freighter market but, again, for how many airframes?
Interesting times, we shall see!
