Nickname: RACER

Review: To planewatcher: I'd rather have an airplane like the 787 to replace aging planes then a model like the A380 that canabalizes existing orders. When UPS ordered 10 A380 freighters it canceled options on 37 A300 planes! P.S, I bet Airbus didn't deduct the 37 from their year end totals.

Date reviewed: May 9, 2006 11:35 AM

Nickname: racer

Review: More trouble in A380 land. It now seems according to pretty compelling info on Randy Baeseler's blog the 747-8F is a much more efficent freighter. It seems that while the A380 does carry seven more tons than the Boeing it does it with 74 more tons of operating weight. Hey UPS and Fedex check the escape clauses on those contracts!!

Date reviewed: May 7, 2006 6:15 AM

Nickname: Barry

Review: Dear Airbus Designers & Managers: Fuel Economy is the key, no doubt. (This initiative appears to be with Boeing, now.) So go for key No.2: the combination of "Eco-friendly+safety+customer friendly"; then go for No.3: Bust the impression of a govt-funded-co. How to do this: Give more shares to employees. After all, don't you have "employees full of pride - unity in diversity of Europe?" Don't cry "politics!" It won't help. Your own customers and employees would reduce your load of worries and could make you "fit & airworhty." P.S. Make a small-core team to "conserve fuel," in the air, on the ground, and everywhere. That would be a contribution to "Mother Earth".

Date reviewed: Apr 3, 2006 6:15 PM

Nickname: Planewatcher

Review: I think Boeing's success with the 787 is overated. Nearly all its sales have been to airlines which currently fly the 767. It is not attracting many new customers with this plane. Airbus' sales, on the other hand, are entirely to defectors. The A340 took sales from the MD11. The A320 replaced the 727 and 737. The A380 is taking sales from the 747. Boeing's 777 is the only aircraft taking sales from Airbus (the A340).

Date reviewed: Apr 3, 2006 6:07 PM

Nickname: Eric

Review: Boeing's success with the 787 seems overblown. In the airline business, the measure of a new airplane's success is not how just many units it sells, but whether the airlines replace one maker with another for the new aircraft. As far as I can see, all of the buyers of 787s will be using them to replace 767s they currently own. While the sales numbers look good, these customers are replacing Boeing aircraft with more Boeing aircraft. There's no increase in market share. Boeing is doing better with the 777 because airlines are using it to replace A340. Boeing is taking business away from Airbus. At the same time, Airbus is doing well because its customers are replacing 747s with A380s. What makes the A380 so significant is that it is entering a market where Boeing had a monopoly. However many A380s Airbus sells in the long term, each one is a sale that would not exist for it otherwise. Remember that the 747 was not very successful at the beginning in 1969!

Date reviewed: Apr 3, 2006 4:46 PM

Nickname: boeingdriver

Review: Now with Condit and "friends" out of the picture, Boeing appears to finally be getting back to what it does best: Building airplanes that the world cannot wait to get their hands on. Additionally, BA (in my humble opinion) has a few more "wows" to be revealed over the next three years.

Date reviewed: Apr 1, 2006 2:29 PM

Nickname: Haroon

Review: PIA Pakistan's flagged airline sponsored 777 service from Pakistan to New York 14 hours in the GCC, SAARC, other regional markets recently. Emirates, Eitehad Airlines, other regional operators saw their market slipped away when PIA is qued up with reservations. Airbus certainly bigger, better, and multi-national aircraft well engineered, and value for money for the airline/operators. It provides value for money to passenger, airline, and belongs to several nationalities and their tax payers. Lesson to Boeing and Airbus on co-existence, ethics to make this world at peace. I, myself, at one time proposed Pak Railways to purchase A380 operate intercity services in Pakistan cheaper than railway, and let railway improve itself.

Date reviewed: Apr 1, 2006 9:30 AM

Nickname: John

Review: I sense there is a political motive for UAE and the other company mentioned for demanding changes at the last minute. Changes they know Airbus won't make, giving them an excuse to buy Boeing aircraft instead. US Boeing from Day One has been putting out negative information about the big Airbus jumbo. They just can't stand the fact that they are doing so well and are going to have the world's biggest aircraft. US government & Boeing officials must have played a major role behind the scenes in putting all sorts of political pressure so that the two mentioned companies would demand last minute changes.

Date reviewed: Mar 31, 2006 11:45 PM

Nickname: RDUboeing

Review: Which airline can fill an aircraft up with 700 people?The 787 is just better!

Date reviewed: Mar 31, 2006 9:05 PM

Nickname: Bill

Review: Airbus has been focusing on building the A380 to beat Boeing's 747 because they want to take the title "the Queen of the sky" off the 747. I usually fly overseas on the B747, and looking at 400 passengers rolling in and out the gate and the plane already gives me a headache. Flying with 555 other passengers on an A380, and long lines for checking in and out is really a big concern for me. I'd rather fly a small one such as the B777 or 787.

Date reviewed: Mar 31, 2006 8:55 PM