A380

[pipme]

Boeing clings to the hope that the 747 will survive in a new advanced version, carrying 450 passengers (instead of the usual 416), using composite (weight-saving) technology and engines developed for the 787.

British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines - three big carriers that have conspicuously avoided signing up for the new Airbus - are understood to be potential launch customers of the new Boeing jumbo, if it ever flies. Several earlier attempts to upgrade the 35-year-old 747 have flopped.

... The successful first test-flight of a 555-seat super-jumbo was quite an event. Instead, Airbus's American rival Boeing almost stole the show. On April 25th, Boeing said that, if all the options are taken up in a new order for widebody jets from Air Canada, the value at list prices would be around $15 billion making it one of the biggest aircraft orders ever. The following day, Boeing landed a second huge order from Air India. Soon it will announce a third, this time from Northwest Airlines for its new 787 long-haul aircraft.
The timing may well have been deliberate. Nevertheless, the three orders are more than marketing hype, and should worry Airbus. They all come from airlines that have long been big Airbus customers, and they reflect a new sense of purpose at Boeing, which now looks like outselling Airbus for the first time in recent years under its new super-salesman, Scott Carson. They also bring the tally of launch orders for Boeing's new 787 to over 200 - impressive for a new plane which has been on the market for only a year. Airbus, by contrast, has only one customer for its rival A350 long-haul plane, and sees orders for the A380 obstinately stuck at 154.

......Unless Airbus can soon unveil some new orders for the A380, possibly at the Paris air show in June, scepticism will grow that the Eu12 billion ( $15.7 billion ) project will never earn a profit. Airbus needs to sell around 500 ( out of its target sales of 700 over 20 years ) to earn a real return on the investment.

My bold characters.

 

[AdamW]

Airbus is the largest aerospace venture in the world now, IIRC. Although when someone says "airliner" I still think "Boeing". Perhaps the A380 will change all that?

I think that Airbus shows just what the EU could accomplish when it works together (and the poor countries are left out of the picture and the subsidies ).

Also Airbus is proof that MPs should be replaced by Systems Engineers and the PM replaced with a Chief Engineer

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Also Airbus is proof that MPs should be replaced by Systems Engineers and the PM replaced with a Chief Engineer

Isn't that what the EU is all about?

"Look, I've gotta wing" Said in a Joe Pesci type accent!

 

[pipme]

Never discount Boeing ... Very capable.

 

[AdamW]

Trent 8104:

Thrust = 462.68kN (104,000lb st)

50-odd tonnes of static thrust, that is some welly!

 

[kendor]

Trent 8104:

Thrust = 462.68kN (104,000lb st)

50-odd tonnes of static thrust, that is some welly!

they don't call you thrust for nothing

 

[pipme]

Good job the pedant was supressed there .. now if that conversion were euros ..... and I was paying, hang on a mo !!

 

[AdamW]

Well, the metric figures are given to 5sf, which is an accuracy of 10N: about 1kg out of 50 tonnes, the imperial figures are presumably given to 3sf, which is 1000lb out of 50 tonnes... Obviously the engineer who did that conversion was sick on the day they taught significant figures!

Because of the sloppiness, I felt those figures didn't do justice to anything more than 1sf... so the pedant was in full swing