FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Virgin delays delivery of Airbus superjumbos
Old May 24, 2004, 7:19 am
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Globaliser
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Originally Posted by coplatua1k
Does anyone see a real market for a plane that will have a $10 billion investment only to carry so many passengers at a single time? I might be Boeing biased but the 7E7 really does look like a dreamliner next to the 380. CLE-LGW on a 757 is not the best but it sure is great to fly non-stop. I think the future is in a smaller plane not larger. Faster would be the key not bigger.
The 380 is basically aimed at the sort of route where some airlines already dispatch two or more 744s at the same time flying "wingtip to wingtip". If air traffic continues to grow at the rate at which it has, historically, there will be more and more of these routes. The big question for Airbus is whether that section of the market place is going to get big enough fast enough for it to recover its investment.
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