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To: FreeManWhoCan

Y'know, they said the same thing about the 747 when it was built. At the time it was a "bet the company" project and, as I recall, Boeing came close to going out of business for a time. The early 70s phrase used to be: "Will the last person to leave Seattle please turn out the lights." Not to say that the A380 will succeed or fail on the technical merits, but I bet if it actually get produced, customers will start coming out of the woodwork. Also, all this crowing about the A380, kind of reminds me of the "John Gault Line".


22 posted on 02/23/2007 8:36:19 AM PST by rbg81 (1)
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To: rbg81

I won't say your wrong, but I'd like to add that the thing that hurt Boeing back in the early '70s was the collapse of the SST (Super Sonic Transport). Also, most of Boeing's airliner work prior to the advent of the 747 was subsidized by the USAF, ie. the 707 was developed in parallel with the KC-135.


23 posted on 02/23/2007 8:46:05 AM PST by Tallguy
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To: rbg81
You maybe right BUT! I would think that before "customers come out of the woodwork" the problem with terrorist must be solved first, this is the terrorists dream come true, a shoelace of plastics and we are on our way to paradise
24 posted on 02/23/2007 8:55:22 AM PST by jerryem (this is my belief, if you don't like it I have others.)
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To: rbg81
"Not to say that the A380 will succeed or fail on the technical merits, but I bet if it actually get produced, customers will start coming out of the woodwork."

The problem with the A380 in the market is that (for example) people don't want to fly from Seattle to New York on a 757, hop on an A380 to fly to Paris, then hop on a 737 to fly on to Venice. They want to fly from Seattle to Venice. The hub-and-spoke market concept has gone away. The market has fragmented to direct flights with smaller airplanes. The A380 is an airplane looking for a market based on a no-longer-existing market model.

IIRC, they only sold a couple in 2005, and they didn't sell a single one in 2006 (or maybe a couple very late in the year). The orders have literally dried up and the cancellations are just getting started.

29 posted on 02/23/2007 9:30:26 AM PST by SW6906 (6 things you can't have too much of: sex, money, firewood, horsepower, guns and ammunition.)
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