Put Yank engines (GP7200) on the A380 and it will probably continue to fly just fine, but that still does not make it an economical aircraft for CX and certainly not for CX flying across the Pacific.
Eyes Only,
You keep comparing the A380 to the B744 (trip costs, etc). The question is between the A380 and the B748, not other airplanes. The bottom line for me is this, the A380 only makes sense when it is filled up with load factors over 90% and does not require mandatory fuel to be carried all over the place. One market comes to mind wrt CX, LHR. It is possible that FRA and CDG could be thrown into the mix.
The A380 is heavy (277T or so), and when it is loaded up with mandatory fuel it can weigh over 300T without a single passenger, pallet, or one drop of trip fuel. So, one certainly needs over 500 seats to spread those costs out.
By contrast, the B748I only weighs 213T. It goes without saying that the requirement for mandatory fuel will be much less. By simple math, the 748 weighs less per seat than does the A380 regardless the haggling over seating configurations. Assuming similar fuel burns per seat, which airplane would you rather own? One with 400+ seats or one with 500+ seats? How about in a downturn? No brainer. The A380 does not offer enough cost advantage (if any) to justify its risk as a financial albatross when the economy downturns.
I think one has to admit, the A380 is (at this stage of the game) a niche aircraft. Qantas remains the only carrier using it across the Pacific (until yesterday that was), and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Perhaps Korean will take them across because the flight times are less from North Asia, but the requirement will still be there for mandatory fuel build-up.
Forget the costs of a new aircraft type and the fact that an A380 is a horrible recession airplane. The question becomes: Is the extra BOW (64T to 90T+ with mandatory buildup) worth less than one hundred extra seats and two LD-3 pallet positions? I am thinking probably not, but it might preserve your hearing...