Did Boeing Trick Airbus Into a $25 Billion Mistake?

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The A380, while possibly being a financial blunder, is my absolute favourite plane ever. It's amazing. Usually, I fly from Korea to the UK with Emirates just to fly on it. Spacious, quiet and with layouts that aren't squashed together for monetary reasons. Amazing plane, end of.

Airbus might have lost money with the A380
But it's stellar records helped airbus' reputation and made it a passenger favourite.

Airbus may have lost money with the A380, but they gained a great reputation and a great brand image; which holds more value imo

I had a chat with a flight attendant on an Emirates flight. She told me that even though she had to serve more passengers on the A380 she still preferred to fly on it over the 777 any day. What a praise for that aircraft.

The A380, whole a financial flop, was actually the aircraft that gave me as a customer confidence in Airbus as a manufacturer. Growing up, I had never heard of Airbus and when I first flew on one I was honestly a little shook. However, they shortly afterwards released the A380, which proved to me as a customer that they really had the same quality of engineering as Boeing. I don't know if anyone else had this kind of experience, but I can't imagine it didn't have some kind of indirect impact on their growth as a company.

The A380..what a beautiful joy to fly! On economy class is good, but the real experience is on Business class! The silence, the bar on the middle, the comfort! Exceptional! My dog approves it too!
I believe there is no aircraft to beat the A380 in comfort for long distances fly! It changes the perspective of long haul flights! Just beautiful!

I was the ramp supervisor for Lufthansa for a couple years back when I got my start in aviation, and it never really sunk in just HOW massive she is. I'm 6' tall and always felt like an ant next to the engines 😂

I remember the situation in the 1980's: Boeing had a monopoly on 4-engined widebodies, and many airlines paid a premium price to fly the "Queen of the skies". Boeing used this extra money to cross-subsidize their 737, 757, and 767 lineup in order to cut into the profit margins of the Airbus A310 and A320. Airbus tried to reverse this situation, unsuccessfully, but their A320, A330, and A350 are still selling well, maybe because they have continued to keep those engineers employed, instead of the firing and hiring mentality in the US?

380 is by far the best aeroplane I have ever experienced. Next generation

As a customer, I always appreciated the larger body size and quieter cabin.
I always looked for an A380 fare over any other.
The size was always mindboggling

Airbus seem to learn a lot from the development of the A380 and it seems to have helped them make better informed choices moving forward

ETOPS "Engine Turns Or Passengers Swim"

I literally just flew in an Airbus 380 for the first time yesterday. I absolutely loved it! This was just after riding the same route (in reverse) in a 777 which was nowhere near as nice. The airbus was much quieter, the seats (though still economy and a 3, 4, 3 arrangement just like the 777) were wider with a significantly wider aisle. I don't have the luxury of choosing my aircraft when flying, but if I can ever select between an a380 vs a Boeing (even without all of the other issues Boeing is having) I would select the Airbus each time.

In 1997, I attended a US DOT-sponsored symposium on these still paper-in-development aircraft types, where one of the events was a debate between Boeing and Airbus's product development and technical marketing people. Boeing had been asked to defend its no-go decision on the "Super-Jumbo." The aircraft that would compete with Airbus and be the follow-on to the retirement of the then classical Jumbo, the 747-400.

Boeing's final argument was that its decision (to not build the super Jumbo) was based upon its analysis of the data that showed Boeing that notwithstanding any claimed analyses of the market (by Airbus et al.), the size of that market would not support two (2) manufacturers, furthermore, given the length of the development cycle (Boeing's) in the face of Airbus's clear lead in developing the Airbus plane and starting its manufacturing deliveries to operating customers. Boeing's competing product would be ready for marketing and sales deliveries precisely when it would have been recognized that no orders could be taken by a second airframe manufacturer. The market (in fact) was not there.

Boeing was prescient in this calculation-based prediction. In the Airbus A-380 life cycle, the future customer base (fell to zero (0)) long before the last built aircraft was delivered. Regardless of the scale and scope of a Boeing Super-Jumbo program, Boeing's 1st-Quarter (1997) prediction of when (what year and Quarter) they would be able to open up firm-order books for such an aircraft turned out to have been exactly the year that Airbuses' A-380 ceased to receive new (virgin) firm orders.

My wife and I are flying across the pacific next month, I got us on an a330 then an a380 for the 13 hour leg. I’m very happy about this. Even managed to find tickets on a320/21 for short hauls. In the past I would have gone for Boeing planes especially the 787.

Had to re evaluate.

The A380 problem were:
1) It was created having a strecth version in mind, so the -800 end up havier.
2) Engines were half generation behind.
3) The % destined for cargo is lower then the B773 for example.

Actually, the 747 started out to be a freighter. BA used early plans of what became the 747 as it's bid for an US Air Force Freighter. BA lost the contract; the C5A was chosen.

So the 747 had freighter possibilities in its DNA.

Just a thought - if the A380 was to keep airbus engineers busy, what are they doing now - A350 launch was several years ago now! I grew up near Hawrden and remember them dredging the Dee Estuary for the barges.

" Fuselage envy". Love it! 🤣