[VOA]

“
Two years behind schedule, but well worth the wait.
“

So is the A-400 military plane made by EADS (Airbus).
It did make a successful first flight last Friday; but is 25% overbudget.

I’m not raggin’ on EADS/Airbus...building a plane that’s safe and
can operate according to expectation...
It ain’t easy.

[Yo-Yo]

Nope, it ain't easy. The A380 was late and over budget, too. The 787 is way over budget, and would be even more over if it weren't for creative bookkeeping at Boeing. The first half dozen aircraft that will be part of the very aggressive flight test schedule were originally supposed to be refurbished and sold after flight testing is done.

But there were so many unique modifications made to these first airframes that Boeing has written them off as unsellable, and moved the expense of building them from the 787 program to a generic R&D account.

The 787 is still over it's target weight, and the first few delivered aircraft may not have the originally advertised range.

Let's see how well Airbus does with their A350 program. My guess is not much better, and a strong chance that it will be as bad as the A400M or A380 programs.