I see that Soviet-style gigantism is alive and well living in the EU. First, we had the world’s tallest bridge and now we have the world’s largest passenger aircraft:
LONDON, England (Reuters) — Cost overruns and political bickering will be set aside Tuesday at Airbus as the Toulouse-based planemaker unveils its mighty A380 double-decker, the biggest airliner ever built.
French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are among more than 5,000 guests invited for a first glimpse of the A380, which some airlines are betting will reshape the industry.
Customers have committed almost $40 billion to buying the 555-seat plane, expecting it to lower operating costs and fatten profits, battered in a slowdown since 2001.
It’s calculated that Airbus needs to sell 248 of these craft to break even and at this point they’ve got commitments for 149. And a lot can happen between a commitment and a delivery.
Over the last few years in the United States the business model for successful airlines has tended to move away from flying large passenger aircraft in favor of more frequent flights by smaller aircraft and shorter distances. This enables an airline to conduct business in a significantly more agile fashion.
The Soviet Union was reknowned for behemoth works projects: the world’s largest aluminum plant, the titanic Yenisei river dam, mammoth rockets, and the enormous Bureisky hydroelectric project. It’s nice to know that the thirst for the gigantic is alive and well and living in the EU. I sincerely wish Airbus well and hope they have all the success in the world with their new craft.
But somehow I wonder if it’s just the wrong product at the wrong time.
An interesting comparison.
The Spruce Goose?
Funny you should mention that, praktike, but that’s exactly what occurred to me.