A Great Time To Be A Driving Enthusiast

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by XByoot

Extremely good points....throw into the equation the new age airline execs who are all about profits for the "business" who make make engineers with decades of engineering experience redundant and then outsource heavy maintenance overseas to the lowest bidder...it happens. Then the line maintenance guys have to fix all the problems,while still certifying the POS. The Airbus 380 is a very technologically advanced machine and your accounts of the Singapore incident are very true....however with all its advanced technology it's slower,burns More fuel and is more expensive to maintain than the 30 year old 747-400!! It won't be long before the 380 is retired,I believe Singapore airlines have already parked some....throw away machines, very much like cars or today and certainly of the future. The future lies with the new models of the 777 , those things are virtually Bullet proof and make even the worst airline managers look good! Strangely they are arguably not as highly automated in the fly by wire systems as the Airbus,but they are more aerodynamically efficient and better built. Sorry for the rant,I'm getting off the beaten track here.

Way off topic here, but I feel the 380 will only have a market either on ultra-long distance flights where nothing else can compete, or on ultra-high volume routes into busy airports.
It's why after introducing the 747, Boeing never produced a bigger plane. The 5, 6, 7, and now 8, were all smaller and more efficient.

And yeah, the 380 has just about destroyed Qantas. It has allowed them to pioneer new routes, but at what cost. As you say, all the smart money went with the 777.