Originally Posted by Unimatrix One
Wow, this is becoming just like airliners.net!
I will say one last thing in response to Threy's point "If there is no market for the A380, why is Boeing offering the 747-8?"
It seems pretty clear to me that the 747-8 is quite a bit smaller than the A380 and is only a small jump in capacity from a 744. Hence there is the potential for a large 744 replacement market, whereas the A380 is just so big it is more plane than most airlines need. Only time will tell whether there is enough A380 demand for the plane to become profitable for Airbus.
If I am not mistaken, there was not a single A380 order last year. Quite interesting considering that last year was an all-time record for new jetliner orders (more than 2000 orders for Boeing and Airbus combined) -- and not a single order for the A380. (If I am wrong and there were A380 orders in 2005, feel free to correct me.)
Why should an airline order an aircraft at record high prices, if it cannot be delivered in the next 5-6 years anyway ? A 380 is sold out for quite some time, actually only the learning curve can tell how fast it can be produced at this time...
Isn`t it the same with the 787 which nobody orders at the moment, cause their is no delivery slot for quite some time
And I am pretty sure that the A 380-700 will fit right into the gap between the 744 and 748 as well, but should you fly 450 seats, if you can fly 480 or 530-550 seats even cheaper... ?
