Bad news for Boeing

If America doesn't adopt the A380 it doesn't really matter that much, the main growth market for high capacity transports is Asia, not the USA, and the A380 is already doing well there. Obviously the more orders the better, but its not critical to the programme and Airbus will just carry on.

You know better then that.

Losing the US as a customer is a HUGE deal! There is no way around that.

That being said, I don't think the runways/facilities will be that big of a deal.

Obviously not as big a deal as some Americans like to think it is!

Obviously the US airliner market is massive, but so is their brand loyalty to Boeing, it took Airbus a long time to get accepted there and Eastern's order for the A300 in the early '80's was a major shock. Now the US market is one of Airbus biggest and is naturally very important to them.

However, Airbus identified the main market for the A380 as being Asia right at the beginning of the programme, US indifference to the A380 is not good, but it wont harm the programme, there seems to be a feeling of 'if US airlines don't buy it, its failed'. Well, not with this particular bird. Though clearly Airbus would like to sell it on every continent, it would be failure to sell it in Asia that wouldhave really hurt Airbus.

A much bigger deal for Airbus would be if their US customers blank the A350 and all turn to the 787 instead, that would really hurt as that is Airbus most lucrative class in the US.

the air canada 787 purchase is after all back on. it was just a tactic used during pilot contract talks. as soon as the pilots accepted the new offer they went ahead with the order

Originally posted by waynos
Makes sense for Boeing to build the plane that Emirates is asking for. Also the 787-10X would meet Airbus' bigger 300 passenger A350-900 head on.

I agree but Boeing says that is the domain of the 777 and would eat into sales. Since the 777 is well past the development phase its a cash cow in terms of profitability while less so for the new 787.

The A350 and 787 may spell the end for the A340 and the 777 if capacity and range are ramped up. Given fuel proces the legacy 747-100 to -300 will all be baking under the desert sun within a few years.

Originally posted by American Mad Man
You know better then that.

Losing the US as a customer is a HUGE deal! There is no way around that.

Its really a question of load factors. Most US airlines that fly to Asia may be able to make a case for it, but how many is that really? Its primarily NW and United. Asian airlines and those of the middle east are mostly Long Hual type and when flying from major airport to major airport it works best in slot limited places. Think Heathrow, JFK, Narita, etc etc etc.

That the same reason why SW does not operate the 777. Not cause it cannot afford it, but rather its overkill for domestic transport. The only airline to buy the A380 that does no fly international is Kingfisher airlines of India. I am skeptical that they are going to use it as a high density intra country transport, but rather have sights set on international charter routes.