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Posted #36 by Reaganesque:
Posted on 01/18/2005 7:45:22 AM PST by Happy2BMe
Airbus unveiled the world's biggest passenger jet in a glitzy ceremony in which the leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Spain hailed Europe's victory over the United States as the new king of the commercial skies.
The huge A380 superjumbo, which can carry up to 840 people on its two full decks, supersedes the ageing 747 by US rival Boeing as the biggest civilian aircraft ever made.
When it is put into service early next year, it will become the flagship of many airline fleets and offer unprecedented amenities on long-haul services, including, in some cases, gyms, bedrooms and bars.
For the countries which backed the 10.7-billion-euro (14-billion-dollar) development cost, the plane stood as a prominent symbol of European cooperation.
"Good old Europe has made this possible," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a packed hall in Airbus's headquarters in Toulouse, southwest France.
That was a barely-veiled barb recalling the US dismissal of France, Germany and other EU states in 2003 as "Old Europe" because of their opposition to the war on Iraq.
Noel Forgeard, the French head of Airbus, made similar hints in his presentation of the A380 during a spectacle featuring computer graphics, atmospheric theme music and swirling colours.
"The European states -- so easily accused of weakness -- backed this fantastic challenge 35 years ago and have believed in the A380," he said.
The hubris on display was reinforced by recent figures showing that, for the second year running, Airbus has outsold Boeing and now holds some 57 percent of the world market for passenger aircraft.
The company, a majority owned subsidiary of the listed European Aerospace and Defence Company (with 20 percent in the hands of Britain's BAE Systems), forecasts that the A380 will extend that lead.
Thirteen airlines have already placed firm orders for 139 of the planes. Airbus calculates that by 2008 it will reach the break-even point of 250 A380s sold, and from that point it will turn out 35 of the aircraft per year to rising profits.
The catalogue price of the huge machine -- boasting a wingspan of 80 metres (262 feet), overall length of 73 metres (239 feet), height of 24 metres (79 feet) and maximum take-off weight of 560 tonnes -- is between 263 and 286 million dollars, though discounts are frequently applied.
French President Jacques Chirac called the project a "big success" and said: "We can, and we must, go further on this path of European construction so essential for growth and employment."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the plane was "the culmination of many years of hard work" and congratulated the workers across Europe who made it happen.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Europe was "unstoppable" when it pooled its efforts.
The plane, Zapatero said, "has turned this historic moment into a moment in which cooperation and globalisation are giving rise to more peace and justice."
The four EU leaders later lunched together, leaving industry VIPS to get close to the huge white plane sitting in its hangar.
Airline executives at the presentation were superlative in their praise, even though the A380 has yet to undergo test flights scheduled for March or April.
Richard Branson, the head of Britain's Virgin Atlantic, said his airline would pamper passengers on the six A380s ordered by including gyms, beauty parlours, bars -- and even casinos and double beds.
The last two features meant "you'll have at least two ways to get lucky on our flights," Branson joked.
The biggest buyer of the new plane is the Emirates airline, which has ordered 43. "The A380 will be the future of air travel," its chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, said.
Airbus's success with the A380 is raising hackles at Boeing, which has won relatively little interest in its own new offering, a long-range mid-size plane called the 7E7 Dreamliner.
A bruising dispute over state subsidies between Boeing and Airbus is currently the subject of tense negotiations which, if they fail at the end of a three-month deadline, will blow up into a full-blown arbitration case at the World Trade Organisation.
The only use I can see for these flying cattle cars is to haul hajjis to Mecca.
I'm impressed!! How are they doing with *inside toilets* in Europe now? Maybe they'll just hold it and go in the plane.
Plane too big. Need many people to fill every flight to make it affordable. Looks like big giant bomb, waiting to fly into big building. Big Plane, big tank, big boom! I think this is a "boom-doggle".
That's me thoughts and I'm stickin' to'em.
Both companies are taking a gamble. I tend to think Boeing has the right approach, at least in terms of the US Airline industry, but we'll see.
So does this mean socialism is now officially defunct? Here we have a doctrinaire socialist attaching "social justice" platitudes to a new product rollout by a megacorporation. I don't this is what the Left had in mind back in 1917.
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Posted #36 by Reaganesque:
Smaller and fuel effecient seems to be the direction profitable airlines are going - this is ridiculous.
Actually, Airbus says it will make profits when it reachs the 250-order-line. Up to now, 149 planes are ordered, and they expect many more to come. I predict it will be a success. Why are you so pi$$ed off by this new plane? I always thought progress is a good thing. I mean, Europeans also fly Boeing and wish NASA success, just like Americans fly Airbus and wish ESA luck. Can´t we just all get along?
We do not need all these buggy whip industries. Do not worry, soon we will be all nanotechnologists and brain surgeons. Like in Argentina.
New service based, environment friendly economical activity in City of Rosario.
"Smaller and fuel effecient seems to be the direction profitable airlines are going - this is ridiculous.
"
Not necessarily. On some routes, this plane, or one like it, might make sense. I'm thinking JFK to London or LAX to Tokyo. Busy, full flights, all the time.
It's not going to work from LAX to ORD, though.
Several things I don't understand about this plane.
1. I thought the aviation trend was going more to regional jets and smaller "full service" jets. Hence the rise of the Canadian and Brazillian jet industries and Boeing building planes like the 717, 777, 7E7 etc.
2. If this thing is going to be used in 10, mostly Asian, markets I'm not worried about it. I can't imagine many routes in the world requiring this kind of passenger demand.
3. 250? I'm willing to bet you that half or more of that goes to the international cargo market. Want to combat that? C-17 for the civillian market.
4. As was mentioned, what kind of airport improvements need to be made across the board as this thing would be a ground resource PIG.
The general tone here I believe is right on, despite the gripes. I don't see the reason to crow about this plane. 14 billion euros, 35 years, no market driven demand. Did you see a British Air logo on there? I didn't.
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I noticed neither Russia or China had a hand in this. But do the Euros know something about future fuel (abundant) fuel availability that we don't?
Why? For defense reasons? I don't think Boeing has anything to offer the military.
I can see an economic argument for subsidizing Boeing in order to prevent Airbus gaining a monopoly. But even if Boeing goes under, eventually someone will get in the market, even if it's another state-supported corporation.
And if Europeans want to tax themselves so we can fly their planes, that's fine with me.
Did they paint a "Bullseye" on the aircraft?
They make those wings just down the road from you and just up the road from me.
I take it, we're not that far apart then?
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