Posted on 03/21/2011 8:47:48 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
Boeing Co.’s newest 747 passenger jet, the largest commercial plane it has ever built, took to the skies for the first time Sunday, marking the third maiden flight of a new Boeing commercial airplane in the past 15 months. (See video)
Painted in its orange and red “sunrise” livery, the massive, four-engine 747-8 Intercontinental lifted off from Paine Field, north of Seattle, at 10 a.m. local time under partly cloudy skies and gusty northerly winds. At 250 feet long, the 747-8 is 18 feet longer than its predecessor.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagobreakingbusiness.com ...
Nearly every flight I’ve been on in the last 6 months (about 35) has been nearly full. They reduced the number of flights so the remaining ones are much fuller.
I’ve heard they are finally making money because of this policy.
What Hans Ring was saying in the sentence you pointed to is that Airbus hopes to break even on the production cost of an individual aircraft by 2015. Which means that today it costs Airbus more to manufacture an A380 than they sold it for, ignoring R&D costs.
As they gain experience, the production cost will go down, and by 2015 it should cost less to make than the aircraft sold for. Then you can begin to recoup your R&D costs, which is why they need to sell at least 420 aircraft to break even for the entire A380 project.
But first they have to win 420 orders, which is not going to happen by 2015.
Yup, 244 units sold at a cost of ~$300 Million per A380 - we sure be blowing the hot air. Let's compare against the sales of 107 units of the 747-8, shall we? Source
It don't look good for the home team.
What was the break even again for the 380?
With the world economy where it is, I believe you are correct. I doubt they will sell 420 of the A380’s in the next 5 years.
But, the manufacturing skills they have developed for the A380 should be able to be leveraged against other aircraft in their portfolio. Future revisions of their aircraft should benefit from the lessons learned in building the A380.
That’s a very small niche though. Tiny in fact.
Didn't they ever let you play with crayons?
The break even is 480; which won’t be for quite a few more years. But, bear in mind that the 747 has had decades. At present, sales of the 380 are ~2x that of the 747-8.
The other points to consider is that Airbus has worked out the kinks in making carbon fiber wings; as they have delivered 44 aircraft already. The fact that they have worked out this problem puts them ahead of the curve when they go to retro-fit earlier designs. If you can make a wing for the 380 out of carbon-fiber, you can do it for the 308, 310 ect.
Boeing’s Dreamliner is still effectively grounded - they haven’t gotten the composition manufacturing streamlined yet.
Because Boeing didn’t risk and innovate - they are behind the curve; in an industry that has very lean profit margins. Meanwhile, Canadian Regional Jets are cleaning up in the small jet market, and AirBus is ~2x the orders of Boeing in the big jet market.
Doesn’t take a genius to see where things are going.
“At present, sales of the 380 are ~2x that of the 747-8.”
what about next month? The market for the 380 just isn’t as large. There are only so many airports which can handle the 380.
Kinda curious as to why you are so down on Boeing. Is it because Airbus lost the Air Force contract.
Thanks, but can the airplane kneel, lower a ramp, and have a full size Army tank drive in? And can it do that from both front and back?
Flight 666.
I WANT Boeing to succeed. Period, end of story.
I just see that they have miserable managment. They seem to be curling up in a ball, instead of grabbing the bull by the horns and charging in. When it comes to inguinity, NO ONE beats Americans - but here we are, sitting back and watching Canadian Regional Jets walk away with the small aircraft without so much as even a battle.
Then I watch Discovery and see the show that Airbus put out on the building of their 380 - and I look at Boeing, and I see the same attitude that caused the American auto industry fall to the bottom of the barrel.
Even Korea is building a better car than we are. We should be cleaning house - but America seems to have settled for the lower rung of mediocrity. And it p*sses me off.
America hasn’t settled for the lower rung. Its the unions. Anyplace that is unionized goes downhill.
Free market industries generally excel.
But it may be a case of wrong product at the wrong time. Fuel prices are way up. Business travel is down. I don’t see these trends changing any time soon. Is this jet fuel efficient?
If you follow the thread of that conversation back you’ll see that I’m talking specifically about the pax version. In fact I mentioned the success of the plane in the freight market where it is selling well.
Lol, I melted most of my crayons on the radiator in my room.
yes sir! Go Gators! Beat Jimmer!
A couple of months ago while sitting in a waiting area at SeaTac I saw that beast lumbering along at low altitude... it looked like it was going really slowly, then it slowly made a turn and came back and landed.
I was a bit confused, since I didn’t realize they were working on new versions of the 747... so it seemed odd to see something that looked like a development vehicle (with just Boeing 747 on it rather than airline markings). Now it makes sense.
And that RED and YELLOW melted together make ORANGE?
'-)
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