It does seem like Boeing wants to keep in the international market by putting out the 747-8... but I still think they should put all their effort into the 787 before going onto other projects
The A380/747-8 scenario is startingly similar to the 787/original A350 situation we saw a few years earlier.
Airbus originally attracted very few orders for its A350 - Boeing has very few orders for the 747-8 pax version
The A350 was hurriedly launched... so was the 747-8
You can see where I'm going with this...
Not sure we'll see the 'radical design change' approach this time round, but it's still odd.
Youd think Boeing would sit back and really plan out their next move... considering the way the 787 is selling, rather than just trying to get as many planes as they can out to stay on "top"...when they appear to have a comfortable place up their already.
The market for airliner production at the moment is an odd one - a few years ago Airbus occupied that 'comfortable position' you referred to. Then they lost some of the market to Boeing, and now I think I can see signs that Boeing might be beginning to slip a little. It does seem that the market fluctuates - one manufacturer's dominating the market at some points, and the other manufacturer at other points. I predict that we'll see another of these alternations quiet soon - especially if there are problems with the 787 project, like there were with the A380 project.
If we ever get a third big aircraft manufacturer, then things could get really interesting...
