Striker26
Think you are wrong, the folding wingtips of the new B777X will come as standard so the planes can keep within Code E stand width.
There was a plan years ago to put folding wingtips on the initial B777-200 but that one was dropped, you may be getting mixed up with that.
It isn't whether we like planes or not in relation to the 4 holers ,its all about efficiency. The modern planes with 2 engines are more economical than those with 4.
Boeing said last week that they expect the VLA market in the future to be just 1% of all long haul orders.
So on that back drop interesting to see what happens to the A380 in the future.
EK say they are planning to park A380s in the desert once they reach just 12-14 years of age.They then would replace with new ones.
However Airbus would need a lot more carriers than just EK to be willing to order a substantial number of A380NEOs before they launched such.
If they don't get them, then the 380 will fold. Goodness knows what EK do then, they would have to order 25-30% more 777xs just to keep the same capacity they have now with all their A380s.
Nigel