By: Bmused55 - 16th June 2012 at 10:45
Boeing know that, hence why they have not produced an aircraft that matches or exceeds the A380s seats count.
By: Ship 741 - 15th June 2012 at 14:18
Agreed that they wanted to break Boeing’s dominance, but that market was disappearing anyway……..they (A and B, A380/B748) have been competing for a shrinking market……the VLA demand is not sufficient to support one VLA, let along two.
By: Arabella-Cox - 15th June 2012 at 13:48
I also recall that one of the reasons Airbus went ahead with the A380 was simply to break Boeings dominance on the widebody fleet. I read somewhere that Boeing made 30% of their profits on the 744 (which they can invest in other programmes). Competition has dropped that for both (and led to a drop in 2nd hand values)
By: Bmused55 - 15th June 2012 at 13:23
6) Not everyone needs such a large aircraft as the A380. The 747 was primarly bought for it’s astounding range when new. These days twin engines aircraft offer similar or greater range at reduced costs.
By: Arabella-Cox - 15th June 2012 at 13:23
Great post tenthije, and backed up by the thread currently(*) directly below this one entitled ‘747 prices tumble’! $30-40m for a second hand 744 vs an A380 list price of $300-370 (depending on who you ask, exchange rates etc) is not going to help the 748i, or the A380!
By: tenthije - 15th June 2012 at 11:50
You can’t really compare the two though. Back then the B747 had many things in its favour that the A380 today does not have.
1) Back when the B747 was introduced a lot of airlines did not need to make a profit. State owned airlines everywhere, and in the USA de-regulation had not set in yet. A lot of airlines bought the B747 more for prestige then for viable economic gain. When de-regulation did start a lot of B747s ended up on the 2nd hand market.
2) When de-regulation set in, the desire for frequency over size led to a greater demand for small and medium jets at the expense of large jets. This is still the case.
3) If you wanted a very long haul jet, the B747 was the only thing in the market. The DC-10 and L1011 had not come out yet. The A300 had not come out yet either, and its first versions were local and regional anyway. Existing B707s and DC8s did have transatlantic range, but not much more then that. Contrast that with today where even a (lightly loaded) B737 or A318 can jump the Atlantic.
4) If you wanted a large jet the B747 was your only option. The A380 has to compete with the B747, B777, A330 and A340. That is not even counting a large amount of second hand widebodies that are readily and cheaply available.
5) When the A380 came out the economy was (and still is) in the crapper. Not so much for the B747.
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June 15, 2012 at 3:45 am