And if the A380 is profitably successful, I'm sure Boeing could rush-produce
a stretched 747 (main body and/or upper deck) in a fraction of the time it
took AI to develop the A380 from scratch.

Not really. The stretch 747 was to have cost billions. But the real
issue is that there is no market for two super-sized aircraft. The 380
won't kill the 747, though it will certainly make it much less
profitable for Boeing. But a Super 747 and a 380 would kill both
companies.

The only thing Boeing hoped to do with the Super 747 was to scare
Airbus into canceling the 380. That failed, and Boeing backed down. It
is a private company and it has a responsibility to its workers and
stockholders not to commit suicide. Airbus is essentially bankrolled
by governments, so it can afford vanity projects, just as Britain and
France afforded the Concorde.

Boeing is in a very tough position. Because Airbus came along later,
its planes are more modern. Boeing can only play catchup with projects
like the 7E7/787, and at the end of the day it will have the more
modern fleet. But as long as the 737 is the airlines' cash cow, it
still won't have the cockpit similarity across its entire fleet that
Airbus has.

This was one case where being first mover proved in the long run to be
a bit of a disadvantage.


all the best -- Dan Ford
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