New A380 and 7E7

[Craig.]

BA will likely pick up the 7E7 to replace its 767 fleet. Virgin are looking at the A380. but still many airports cant handle it.

[C]

Forgot, same goes for A380. Any North American or European airlines to order and fly A380?

Being a European aircraft I expect quite a few A380s to be purchased in Europe, as long as the airport facilities are upgraded fast enough

Charlie

[JVC_systems]

Do you guys think A380 is going to be a success or is it going to be something like Concorde, very nice and luxury but very expensive to operate and unaffordable for most airlines to purchase due to high maintainence costs and many other reasons.

[Craig.]

its impossible to say. The airline world changes so fast its impossible to predict what will happen next week.
Airbus are placing all their bets on the fact air travel will pick up in the next few years drastically. If it doesnt we could be looking at the end of airbus as we know it.

[JVC_systems]

So you are saying that if Airbus fails to get enought costomers for A380 it might no longer make any airplanes? I thought that Airbus is doing pretty well since it has so many customers in Europe and Asia like you said. Even some North American airlines have an airbus in their fleet (Jetblue, Northwest, Air Canada, Skyservice). Also why is it that North American airliners aren't planning to get any A380's

[Craig.]

north american airlines cant afford to buy A380's in any large bulk right now. And tons of US airlines use the Airbus, united, continental i belive, US airways.
Remember the A380 is a huge cost to build, now the government does fund airbus for this project but if this goes badly i dont think the french government will be to happy about it. Remember, airbus also practically give away their aircraft because of funding, the A380 will not be able to just given away. and those who buy it need to make sure they can afford it, and all the airports they want to fly it to can.
LAX is the biggest problem, it cant handle the A380 and without a huge overhaul it never will

[microlight]

I think that Virgin Atlantic may be going to be the launch customer for the A380. I saw a picture of Richard Branson holding a model of an A380 in the new Virgin colours a while back. So if that's the case, it could be flying to east or west coast of the US.

[microlight]

Oops - moral to the tale - read page 2 of teh thread before adding a comment! You sound pretty knowledgeable on this, Craig.  

[JVC_systems]

It is intersting, Airbus is going to launch A380 which is going to be bigger than their Boeing 747 but boeing is thinking of 7E7 which is a lot smaller, so I am wondering, is Boeing planning on making something even bigger or at least the same size as A380 in the future? Maybe 747-900 or something like that? Also my friend told me that there might be a 747 which will have 2 standart decks (like in A380) and one extra one on top just like on a 747-400. It going to go only to the middle on the fuselage. So anybody know or heared about that?

[Craig.]

not heard of anything big being designed by Boeing. They are converting the 747 freighter making it bigger on top to transport  the parts for the 7E7, why worry about a rival to the A380? the 747 is fine for its job, the A380 only holds a few more as it is. and the 7E7 is going to be a huge sucess, its perfect for the future. Airbus are already considering a replacement to their A300 aging fleet and even the older A330's they have realised the 7E7 is going to be huge and they cant just convert the A330, and they are running scared:)

[Felix/FFDS]

It is intersting, Airbus is going to launch A380 which is going to be bigger than their Boeing 747 but boeing is thinking of 7E7 which is a lot smaller, so I am wondering, is Boeing planning on making something even bigger or at least the same size as A380 in the future? Maybe 747-900 or something like that? Also my friend told me that there might be a 747 which will have 2 standart decks (like in A380) and one extra one on top just like on a 747-400. It going to go only to the middle on the fuselage. So anybody know or heared about that?

Boeing already had a design study of a full double-deck 747 variant (an FS5/FS98 model was built of the "747-900" I think).  Basically, it's a 747 with the upper deck extended back.  Like Boeing, Airbus can count on past double-decker piston airliner experience - the SE. "Sahara".

[JVC_systems]

So is Boeing thinking of starting on that 747 with extened 2nd deck or was it just a proposal which was later proped?

[Felix/FFDS]

So is Boeing thinking of starting on that 747 with extened 2nd deck or was it just a proposal which was later proped?

It comes up every once in a while, but I don't see them coming out with it - not while the 7E7 is under development - unless the market for high capacity airliners "wakes" up.  I would see a "747-900" more in a short/medium haul high density route - such as the special 747s in Japan, or the Middle East, if the airports can't handle the A380

[JVC_systems]

So I guess Boeing isn't thinking of anything the size of an Airbus A380. What altitude will A380 be cruisng at? I always think it is going to be slightly higher than normal (well maybe 44,000feet)