With all due respect Cristiaan Im not mistaking operating costs and development costs.
If I as a company develop and sell a product then its not profitable until all the development costs have been recovered. Operating costs are a matter for the buyer, not the manufacturer.
I know the costs were covered by the governments and that was what I was really asking, what was the break even quantity for the manufacturers.
Obviously the benefits to the existance and technological advance of Airbus is a seperate and unquantifyable matter
rod