At least Airbus managed to meet their original break-even forecast.

Really?? Most of Aerospace/Airline Analysts believe that it will never break even , the outgoing CEO Louis Gallois admitted that A380 remains the biggest headache in the history of the company.

The A380 was supposed to have been a $ 10bn project. Today, it’s over double that amount and rising .
A380 still needs more money ( wing cracks, engine problems, delivery delays ) and the last figure of 420 has already been revised for a third time to an undisclosed figure !

The future of the 747-8i doesn’t look good but at least they have developed a freighter version which has no direct competitor in the market.
Smart Boeing.

If Airbus screws up with A-350 ( one year delayed already ) the way they screwed up with A380 ,Boeing might consider a wide body assembly plant in Europe !! The UK would be the best location in my opinion.

What a mess. It seems hard to believe that Emirates won’t be due compensation, but if that is what the contract says, then I suoppose it’s down to the lawyers.
It’s just as well for Airbus that the A380 has no direct competitors. If it did, I suppose future defections would be significant.

Emirates will get any compensation from Airbus and Tim Clark is not a fool . The very survival of the A380 project depends on Emirates.. If you take Emirates orders out of the equation, the A-380 program is COLLAPSED… A380 has indirect competitors and thats the reason why it doesn’t sell anymore. 10 years after its introduction it became clear ( of course the Airbus chief Salesman John Leahy would never accept the defeat) that this Aircraft has been built for a market that barely exists !!
There is only one aircraft in the world which has no direct competitor,its the 777-300ER which not only wiped out the A340-600,500 from the market,it also started taking market shares away from A380 !

Probably depends on slot availability.

IMO – I think the 320NEO will be a better plane by most useable measures than 737MAX – mostly due to the bigger engine.

However, limited delivery slots will force airlines to take the MAX (and maybe more importantly for the longer term future; the CSeries).

In the end ,737 MAX will beat the 320 NEO.. The reason for this is very simple actually.. People are interested in something which is completely new ! they are not interested in an improved or modified version of an old design.

Because of the same reason, the passenger version of 747-8 is doomed.
It will earn its money with freighter because it has no competitor in the market . When an airliner needs a big aircraft with 400+ passengers they will buy the A-380 because its a new creation, pure and simple.

We need to leave the monkey model 21/23s aside as this is not the question we need to ask.. We are talking F-22/Typhoon/Rafale now, so let us seek historical counterparts.

Was the F-15 able to “completely outclass” fighters like Tornado ADV or Mirage 2000C? Was the F-15 so much forward in aicraft design if you count the later cancelled Mirage 4000 into equation? I personally doubt it although I do see certain advantages of the Eagle compared to the ADV (slotted array radar, airframe with more growth potential, better TWR…)

Mirage 2000 and Tornado ? no way, Mirage F-1 hopeless, only Mirage 4000 would give a decent tussle to F-15… It was a very very powerful and capable airframe..

Brazil FX2: Super Hornet
Indian Helo: CH-47
Indian Transport: C-295
Malaysian MMRCA: Rafale
Swiss AF: Gripen
Korean FX: F-35
The first Su-35 export customer: Indonesia

Brazil : Super Hornet ?? mate,this goes even beyond what we call ‘a cautious optimism’

Brazil FX2: Rafale has won, Obama and Dilma discussed everything except fighter purchase.

Indian Helo: No idea

Indian Transport: No idea

Malaysian MMRCA: Gripen ,The Eurocanards too expensive !

Swiss AF : Its the Gripen, a cameback for Rafale is highly unlikely

Korean FX: F-15 or F-35

The first Su-35 export customer will be? : Difficult to predict ..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577310781259815806.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/defence-minister-orders-probe-dassault-rafale-charges-of-irregularities/1/178050.html

Nothing is sure until all the documents are signed mate..