There are a lot of advantages of the new plane, as several disadvantages, many have not been yet mentioned. It is probably significantly more fuel efficient than a 747 would be if scaled. I don't have the specs on it but it's probably not much more to operate. Since the whole thing is financed anyway, it may not cost much more in the long run. I agree that it will be crammed full of people - probably in the Asian market. It will also make for an EXCELLENT cargo plane.

One of the biggest disadvantages is in the unloading of this supersized tube. The problem is that you're dumping hundreds more people at one time through the facilities - customs and immigration and baggage handling. This means that they need to have more people on staff at once, versus having a lower number of workers handling two flights of a smaller plane.

When the airports are complaining, refusing to fit the facilities to the aircraft, this is just stupid bureaucracy. They're going to say "You have to pay for it," when we all know that the airlines ALREADY pay for it. The airlines' customers have to pay facility charges when they fly - AND RENT CARS. And they bring business to that town, which of course gets taxed.

That being said, I think the answer for Continental is to get more 777's and 738's and build out that way. Dump the old 737's and run a shiny new fleet with fuel efficient planes and continuous service on the large and mid markets. The massive planes will only congest their system.