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mriya225
15th Nov 2000, 21:43
The race to create useless aircraft is far from over....

Nov 15, 2000 - 09:46 AM

Germany Approves Government Loans for Airbus A3XX Super Jumbo Jet

The Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) - The German government gave a big boost to the Airbus A3XX super jumbo jet as a competitor to Boeing's 747 - promising Wednesday to back an $860 million low-interest loan to help get the project off the ground.
The loan will help sustain 6,000 new Airbus jobs throughout Germany, including 4,000 at the company's Hamburg plant, which will make interior components for the double-decker aircraft to be assembled in Toulouse, France.

Total development for the long-haul jet is expected to run up to $12 billion, making financial help from the four countries in the Airbus consortium essential.

Britain's BAE Systems and Airbus' three other partners, DaimlerChrysler's Dasa, Aerospatiale Matra of France, and Spain's Casa - which recently merged into European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. - have asked their own governments for aid.

Already, the French, German and British governments have said they will contribute up to one-third of the development costs, with low-interest loans repayable over 17 years - as stipulated by a 1992 accord with the United States that regulates launch aid for aviation projects.

So far, the British government has earmarked $830 million in A3XX aid, while France has said it would offer $1 billion by 2005. Spain has yet to detail its plans.

Boeing has derided the A3XX as redundant, saying there is no market for such a huge aircraft. The first version of the plane would seat 555 people and have a range of 8,700 miles, about the same as the 416-passenger 747-400.

Airbus expects the first A3XXs to roll off production lines by 2006.



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Un diva très doué.

Secret Squirrel
16th Nov 2000, 03:38
They said the same about the 747, mriya. Who Dares Wins!

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Very funny, Scotty. Now beam up my clothes!

mriya225
16th Nov 2000, 10:15
Hmmm, I suppose they did at that, but any bigger that the 747 and you've got the Ruslan (AN124) and if you need anything larger than that - then you can use the the second generation Mriya (AN225) http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/tongue.gif


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Un diva très doué.

LowNSlow
17th Nov 2000, 21:08
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).]

Paterbrat
23rd Nov 2000, 01:43
If they help to bring down fares I'm all for them anybody tried to travel without using concesionary fares recently, it's getting horrendous