there is little is anything in common with the earlier incarnations

Ummmmmm…. apart from fuselage cross section and nose?!

What a shame 🙁 Still prefer the bare metal – quite unique.

Both are contributing factors. Airframe maintenance is primarily forecast on operating hours. Engine maintenance is often based on cycles however.

I’m not picking on it, but for an “Xtra Wide Body,” it looks pretty narrow and pencil like from those pictures!

I never realised until the big Airbus AW article an issue or two ago, that the A340 had the same fuselage cross section as a A330. So the A340 is / was just a stretched version of the A330.

Continental were planning on flying the Houston – Auckland route with the 787 when they got them. I don’t think this is going ahead any more, but not sure if this is a result of the United merger or otherwise.

Correct me if i’m wrong, but isn’t Iberia about 1/3 the size of LH, and isn’t the Spanish investment/ownership in Airbus a small fraction of the German investment/ownership of Airbus?

I guess I have a hard time equating Iberia and Deutsch Lufthansa.

You’re the one who made the generalisation, not me :rolleyes:

What a ridiculous statement. Firstly, the 737 MAX is not completely new, it is an improved / modified version of older designs. Secondly, aircraft like the 737-7/8/900 were modified versions of old designs but sold extremely well.

Airlines will primarily choose aircraft based on payload / range / cost etc, not because the aircraft is a completely new design or not. Yes, new designs usually offer high payload and range for low costs, but modified versions of existing aircraft can also compete with these.

Look at what Lufthansa have done: purchased the A380 and the 747-8i to meet capacity / range requirements.