Nickname: gregg

Review: I just love it when Airbus slam Boeing. Boeing are the masters of making sound sircraft. Its airbus that have planes splitting up in the air, falling into oceans and fires and technical problems galore. Please Airbus clean up your own back yard before you clean up Boeings. I think Boeings approach is a financially wise and much SAFER WAY than pushing out balsa wood tailsections and all the technologies that have not been in place long enough to say they are sound, If it aint Boeing I aint going!!!

Date reviewed: Jun 15, 2009 4:26 AM

Nickname: Bman

Review: The subject article might be biased but there are clear threats by the 7478 to the 380S. The 380 is larger. That is fine. Boeing feels more point to point is the future, Airbus feels the hub system will continue. Those on the airbus side state that the 7478 is 60's tech. First, so wut if it delivers wut the flying public wants. Second, it indeed is not 60's tech in the ways that count, cost of the aircraft, cost of maint/customer, etc. Competing per seat revenue, the fact that wutever percentage the 7478 cuts into 380 sales it puts payoff for 380 further out. Both are good planes, I hope the best for both, but Airbus was counting on havin all the sales for 380 with the Dev cost at 15.8 & still rising versus 4.1 for Boeing, the economics for Airbus, on top of costly overruns already for the 350 program boad bad for Airbus. If Airbus cant make money it doesnt matter that it has the largest plane. Its all about the dollars, whether aircraft mangfr, airline/Frt co or the end customer.

Date reviewed: Nov 13, 2007 6:57 AM

Nickname: 747-8

Review: My favourite aircraft is the 747-8.It has 20% lower trip costs than the A380 and also can land at most airports.

Date reviewed: Jul 24, 2007 5:11 PM

Nickname: Rob

Review: Gents; Don't you just love those "objective" comments from Airbus on the new 747-8 ? With the latest avionics, the very latest engines (newer than those on the A380), and that jaw-dropping new wing - so swept back and high that it looks like a swallow in flight, designed by mother-nature herself - what's this airplane got to do with the earlier models of the 60's? Subtract out all those features out and what's left -the fuselage barrel - which just happens to retain its classic familiar appearance. When Airbus keeps chanting the "warmed over 1960's technology" mantra to shoo-away any interested customers - they're just revealing their darkest fears of their long hated jumbo-nemesis. Nice Try Airbus. Rob

Date reviewed: Dec 10, 2006 12:00 PM

Nickname: Dante_J

Review: This article and many of the comments are seriously flawed and seem not to be written by informed people with an aviation background. Airbus is every bit as innovative as Boeing, and very keen indeed to push past in an effort to give airlines, airports and passengers what they want. Airlines will get, in the A380, a much smarter and better designed aircraft than the 747. The cockpit eases pilot workload and increases their situational awareness. The aircraft takes off in a shorter run, uses much less fuel and is quieter. High-volume airports, and others, are keen to adopt it as they will get more passengers (and more revenue) per slot. Passesgers will benefit from more space, room to walk around and a non-60's mentality in the interior design of the aircraft. I can see the A380 being very popular with everyone apart from Boeing. The 747-8 will arrive years after the A380 has proven itself. Businessweek, why are you so biased?

Date reviewed: Dec 7, 2005 7:23 AM

Nickname: AV8R

Review: The issue of airports being ready for the A380 is redundant, since all airports that are going to operate this aircraft are already modifying taxiways and terminals to accomodate it. They need to: This aircraft will attract huge landing and handling fees, a source of revenue that airports can't overlook. Much in the same way as when the B744 entered service in the 60's. Some airports, mainly LAX, are performing poorly in the preparation and will only provide temporary accomodation at first. This is tied up with its stalled overall development plans. Airlines are already planning to take the A380 away from unprepared airports and sending them to nearby cities who want the traffic. Notice that still no airline has ordered the passenger version. It is unlikely they will do so and this aircraft will become a freighter only.

Date reviewed: Dec 5, 2005 6:17 AM

Nickname: Matt

Review: One significant fact that was overlooked in the story is that the a380 can only operate out of a few specially modified airports with a380 specific jetways (gates). The 747-8 can operate at over 200 airports without any airport or jetway modifications. This will give the 747-8 a huge advantage in point-to-point routes, which the flying public prefers, and will not force airports to allocate massive resources just to accomodate one aircraft type. Considering this, the a380, while hailed as the new big bird, may just turn out to be a cooked goose.

Date reviewed: Dec 4, 2005 2:38 PM

Nickname: AV8R

Review: This article is overbiased in on Boeing's side. As a B744 pilot, myself, I know the reality is that in every one of the numerous competitions that the 747 "next gen" version has been put up against the A380 it has lost. All of them. The reality is that Boeing's business plan is to push the 777-300ER as it has far better economics and almost the capacity as a 747. The 747-8 is a spoiling move that will be very lucky to get orders from passenger airlines. 747's have been disappearing from airline fleets to be replaced with new aircraft already. There are few airlines that have not made a decision to replace their 747s. For example, Cathay Pacific is replacing its 747's with the 777-300ER or the A340-600. The 747-8 has been excluded from the final list. No airline wants '60s technology, and believe me, they all see this aircraft as '60s technology. The basis of this story is ill informed, fundamentally flawed, and childishly anti-European.

Date reviewed: Nov 26, 2005 12:05 PM

Nickname: aeroplane

Review: Boeing should make the length of the 747-8 passenger version the same as that of the freight version. This should provide not only greater economy of scale, but also increase the passenger capacity to 460, making it further from 777 and closer to A380.

Date reviewed: Nov 23, 2005 2:00 PM

Nickname: grawl

Review: From a passenger's perspective, travel comfort is determined more by the configurations that airlines will put into these aircrafts, such as seat pitch and width. In light of the depressed nature of the airline industry, there is no reason not to expect airlines will maximize every salable square inch in the cabin that they can get away with. Additionally, most airports in the world will take a long time to have the infrastructures in place to handle these behemoths. Therefore, anyone traveling on a tight schedule should consider smaller aircrafts. Finally, A380 is based on an almost entirely new technology, which will be challenging to airline maintenance engineers for quite some time, whereas the 747-8 is based largely on known technologies that are familiar, which translates into fewer delays.

Date reviewed: Nov 22, 2005 9:46 AM