Originally Posted by
TMOliver
The "future" of long distance flying, in the long run potentially a profit center for most airlines, is in a/c economical to operate and "sized" for the routes which they fly.
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Fancy a/c with fancy prices are "niche" markets, likely to be in continuing demand but in modest quantities, hardly of A380 dimensions.
That's only part of the picture though. Sure you can fly East Coast - Western Europe on 757s, between not-so-popular cities that normally would have a hardtime filling a widebody (EWR-DUB, BDL-AMS, DTW-DUS). On long routes with consistent demand it's a different matter entirely (LHR-SIN, NYC-NRT come to mind). Rather than flying 2 [smaller] widebodies that may or may not be completely filled, you can fly one A380 and be much better off. Huge planes may not be the "asnwer" to longhauld travel (to quote the title of the thread), but there is definitely a niche for superjumbo's.