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Posted on 10/30/2007 6:12:28 AM PDT by WesternCulture
As my taxi pulled up at Changi airport, I knew this was going to be a special day - the day of the first A380 commercial flight was finally here.
The airport had long been adorned with banners and posters declaring Singapore "A380 ready" and anticipating the flight.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
You’ve been here eight years and haven’t seen fit to add a single syllable to your profile page?
I’m in California, I have numerous Mexican friends, my business partner is in Mexico DF getting his Mexican citizenship reinstated right now. I travel to Mexico a few times a year.
On what do you base your opinion on what Mexicans think?
I’m less concerned about how much bigger than a 727 a plane is than how many inches of room there is around my seat for me.
“I’ve joined in on mindless bashing before, but I’ve always regretted it in the long run.
As to Europe vs. US bashing: most Americans are just a few generations removed from being European. While the circumstances and some of the philosophies are different here, the genes are still the same. So really, what’s the point?”
- Well put.
Judging from some of the posts I’ve made on the internet, some people might perhaps think I intend to mock other countries (even if few persons have explicitly accused me of doing so). This is far from the truth. Like my username suggests, I believe in the unity of Western Civilization and I also belive in humanity as a whole.
We Westerners will always quarell a lot internally. Some of this perpetual argumentation and disagreement is constructive, but a lot of it is also ignorant, immature and disrespectful in nature.
Being a patriot includes wishing to compete with other nations in different areas, but it does not involve insulting foreigners for the sake of insulting.
“That said, coming back to the original topic of this thread: I can’t wait to take a long international ride on an Airbus 380. I don’t like the way EADS does business, but I think they make a few wonderful products. I also can’t wait for a ride on a Boeing 787.”
- Both of these planes seem to offer highly enjoyable solutions to the demands of modern air travel.
However, next time I travel outside of Europe I think it will be by ship in fact. I’m planning on going on a cross-Atlantic cruise.
Please feel free to use the term US Americans when posting to the threads I read. I prefer it to United Statians.
“I’m less concerned about how much bigger than a 727 a plane is than how many inches of room there is around my seat for me.”
- I guess that goes for most people.
On the other hand, projects like building the biggest plane in the world, the tallest skyscraper, the largest ship etc constitutes a lot of a genuine challenges to engineers. It’s not like trying to make the biggest cardboard box in the universe or something like that.
I admire the people of corporations like Boeing and Airbus.
“United Statians”
- I must remember that expression.
Greetings from a European Unionan!
I thought that was EUnic...
(Ducking and running for cover)...
I agree. I took the Eurostar from London to Brussells in 2003, connecting on to Amsterdam. It should have been a great experience, unfortunately though it was just the wrong thing to do at the time, traveling with small children. As you've mentioned, the infrastructure really wasn't in place to accommodate my travel plans - no good way of transferring from Heathrow to Waterloo, so just had to hop in an expensive taxi, and no good way to deal with luggage, even traveling in first class.
It was really a tough trip that should have been much easier, if only a few improvements were made. Luggage should have been checked in at the counter, instead I had to cart it all downstairs through elevators, tunnels, alleyways...no signs to help out...and no way to carry all that luggage onward in Brussels. Just not very well thought out.
Hopefully, they've made improvements since because it would really be a nice way of travel.
EUnic (= European Union National Institutes for Culture) is a nice, PC and harmless organization. They are probably granted millions of Euros annually for achieving nothing.
True. I give them credit for remarkable machines. It’s the airlines that make them uninhabitable.
“As you’ve mentioned, the infrastructure really wasn’t in place to accommodate my travel plans - no good way of transferring from Heathrow to Waterloo, so just had to hop in an expensive taxi, and no good way to deal with luggage, even traveling in first class.”
- I remember when taxis were a rather inexpensive way to get around in London. That was about 30 years ago.
I haven’t experienced the Thalys train, but I suppose it’s one of the best ways of travelling in that part of the world. Like I guess you’re aware of, it’s one of the most densly populated parts of Europe and as a consequence, getting from A to B often is very time consuming. High speed trains is a natural solution as there is little room for more freeways and increased air traffic.
Going by fast trains is often a delight in Europe, especially compared to getting caught in traffic jams. Such congestions are everywhere, even if certain countries have more problems than other ones. On his first visit to Sweden, I gave a friend of my mother a lift that involved driving through Gothenburg (my home town) which has just below 1 million inhabitants including all suburbs. When I first told my passenger, who lived in London, that I feared some traffic jams as it was rush hour, he initially found the thought of congested car traffic in such a small city like Gothenburg highly amusing. After one and a half hour in car he wasn’t laughing anymore. London traffic is even worse, but the problems of that city are far from unique.
The European high speed trains I’ve tried include the Italian Eurostar Italia (also known as Pendolino), The German ICE (InterCityExpress) and the Swedish X2000. I would recommend them all. Higher standards than ordinary trains and also a very time saving and stress free way of travelling in Europe.
Touché!
Airbus designed this line to straddle the 787 up to 777 in size, but in making it a bigger aircraft, they have left the smaller 787-8 with no competitor. However, they are starting to show some success since the larger A350 compares very well with the 777-200/300 series.
It will be up to Boeing to respond. If they don't, the A350 will eventually kill the 777 line so I believe they will stretch the 787 to compete.
Still plenty of 747s and I have yet to get on a 777 for international travel. Airlines have only just recently caught the 777-300ER fever and deliveries are just now coming in from the orders boom that started 2 years ago with this model. It will take awhile to get rid of the 747 (everytime I drive by SFO I still see them parked at the International terminal - Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Philippine Air, Korean Air - I have only seen Air NZ with the 777 yet).
Not true. They've sold 90 firm orders, 44 options, and 15 purchase rights. The existing orders are probably enough for the 747-8 project to break even. Most of the 747-8 orders will be freighters. Probably no more than 100-200 will be passenger models. Even so, it is quite possible that the 747 will sell more than 2,000 units of all versions by the time the last one comes off the line.
The A380 won't sell many freighters, and the passenger market is fragmenting. People are trying to avoid the megahubs and fly more directly to their destinations on smaller planes like the 777, 767, and 787. According to Airbus, the A380 must sell at least 420 copies to break even. Of course this is just if no additional design costs for additional models are included. I wouldn't be surprised if the real breakeven number is 500 or greater. It took Boeing 12 years to build it's 500'th 747 and 24 years to build its 1000'th. I think all composite airliners will cut short the A380's life span. For most of the time the 747 has been on the market it was the longest ranged plane, and many airlines bought it for its range rather than its capacity. The 777-200ER and 777-300ER now both have slightly more range than the 747-400. It's little wonder that the 777 has been eating into the market that the 747 had all to itself. It's ludicrous for Airbus to think that current 747 operators will upgrade to the A380. Many are right sizing to the 777 or even the 787.
* The automotive industry (Best example: Germany) * Cancer treatment (Best example: Britain) * Telecommunications (Best example: Sweden) * Rail technology (Best example: France)
I would agree with the last 2, perhaps Germany can be added for #4 but #2 is debatable. Our pharmaceutical industries stack up well with Europe's, and I would give us the nod since our market provides probably a great deal of the profits since the prices of drugs elsewhere is artifically controlled.
The US was really behind in telecom, we were about 5 years behind the rest of the world in cell phone use and that's been a tough hurdle to overcome, the only thing to be said perhaps is that our cdma networks could be more efficient and capable than the older gsm networks that came first.
With internet added to the mix, I think we have done well, though not the best as far as implementation, but perhaps so as far as technological prowess. We will always be behind those small countries with high density populations as far as the implementations of those technologies, it will always be true that its far far easier to make the infrastructure when the bulk of your population lives in a small geographic area compared to a large one.
People who work in Silicon Valley might claim the US leads the world in their field of work, but most likely you will also hear them talk respectfully about places like Sophia Antipolis, France and Kista Science City, Sweden.
Silicon Valley is very overrated. About the best thing they were good at was taking venture capital money back in the day. I live here and the job market has been crap ever since the dot com bust and that's been quite awhile ago now. Seems very little going on, we have companies like Apple and Pixar making some big waves but where is the rest? Cisco's been awful quiet lately.
So, while being behind Europe in many ways, one way I can say we are well ahead is in the business environment. The rest of the world is catching up but we still have it somewhat good.
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- All of these claims are highly debatable.
When I ranked Germany as the leader in the automotive industry I was naturally thinking of the high quality of German cars (especially Mercedes, Audi, BMW and Porsche) combined with the technological know-how of the German automotive industry and the technologically intensiveness of their products/companies. However, the automotive industry is not all about cars. Germany produces a lot of things like heavy trucks and buses too and the technological level of these products are very high. Japan may lead the world in the area of hybrid cars but in many fields of the automotive industry German companies, research and engineers are ahead.
“Germany can be added for #4”
- Could be, but France has both the TGV and the Thalys. That decides the matter IMO. But in some decades from now Germany might be way ahead of France. The Maglev technology has great potential and when the Germans get going in any area of technology and industry, they often come on strong.
“Our pharmaceutical industries stack up well with Europe’s, and I would give us the nod since our market provides probably a great deal of the profits since the prices of drugs elsewhere is artifically controlled.”
- I agree with this. If you look at the whole picture, US is ahead of Europe, even if certain European countries lead in certain specific areas.
“So, while being behind Europe in many ways, one way I can say we are well ahead is in the business environment. The rest of the world is catching up but we still have it somewhat good.”
- Europe is behind USA in many ways. When it comes to technology, I think a lot of Europeans would agree the US leads the world in areas such as computer science, internet technology, space technology, biotech and defense technology just to name a few ones.
However, in today’s world the technological and scientific
communities are very globalized. If we wish to understand who’s shaping for instance the future of telecommunications, we would have to study international alliances between large corporations like the one existing between Sony, Ericsson and Microsoft sooner than looking just at leading ICT regions like the Bay Area, Stockholm and Tokyo.
Now that is what I call a kick-ass weapon system. Simple, deadly, modular, and enduring. It's the B-52 of defense weaponry.
Hi neighbor...
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