Posted 6/11/2004 06:14:00 PM by Douglas

Even without the anticipation of the World's largest airliner from Airbus, morning the loss of the 747 is most assuredly premature.

Concorde's last flight provoked tears and eulogies from many thousands of people who had never even flown in her, including me. The slow demise of the Boeing 747, by contrast, is passing unnoticed and unmourned, despite its far greater significance in the evolution of modern travel, and in millions of personal stories.

What he fails to mention is that there's a reason for the sagging orders of the Jumbo 747. Long, international flights are generally a loss-leader for the Airline. Why cram 400 people in the plane for long flight when smaller planes making short hops are much more profitable?

But Airbus has staked at least $12 Billion on it, and barring any future EU bailouts, their success rest on the chance that the problem with the 747 is that it's just not big enough. Meanwhile, Boeing is developing the 7E7, a mid-sized twin-aisle plane with 300 passengers going 4,000 miles.

So what's it gonna be? A huge aircraft with as many bodies as will fit servicing hub airports that have to be specially modified to accommodate this super-plane, or moderately sized efficient airplanes taking passengers to all the airports currently in service? The ramifications are huge, and both companies have staked their reputation and their futures on it. Hopefully the EU won't bail out Airbus if they fail.