Originally Posted by SEA_Tigger
While it is quite true that the 747 truly was a "bet the company" initiative for Boeing and Pan Am, the 7E7 is probably as important today as the 747 was then. While the 747 was a whole new level of aircraft type, the fact is the 757 and 767 have been hurt by the A320/321 and A330 programmes and Boeing could no longer really compete against them.
The 7E7 will hopefully do to the A330 what the 777 did to the A340 - show itself as the superior plane (I know airlines like the A340 because of her four engines, but with the new ETOPS standards, the 777 can do every route the A340 can and can do it with lower fuel burn, maintenance, and operational reliability issues).
Boeing is a very different company today and would never have gone forward with the 747 launch if they had the same business plan as today. Back then, the thinking was "we will build it and worry about how to pay for it later". Today it is more like "Only if we can make x% of profit will we even consider building it". The only difference today is if Boeing does not go forward with the 7E7, they will no longer be a player in the commerical airline business.
I question why the 777 is so much better than the A340. It seems that the A340-500 and 600's are running circles around the 777. If the fuel burn on the 7E7 is so much better than the A330 (due to better engines), why can't airbus put the same engines on the 330? The big advantage of the 330/340 combo is the similarity of cockpit's cross crew training. Boeing has given up their golden goose (747) to Airbus's 380. The 757 is gone and the 767 will be killed sometime this year. That leaves the 737, 717 and 777 as the only aircraft to offer.