> The 787 still hasn't shown a profit (but it will) I would say that's yet to be seen. Last I heard they're still making a loss on every plane, something like

> The 787 still hasn't shown a profit (but it will) I would say that's yet to be seen. Last I heard they're still making a loss on every plane, something like $28B in the hole with no end in sight. But it's a simplistic measurement anyway - obviously they will be able to use their learnings from that program in future projects, just as Airbus will. Luckily both manufacturers have incredibly profitable narrowbody lines to keep the lights on. Remember the 380 project was what finally forced Airbus to become a proper integrated company rather than a weird conglomerate of disparate working groups in different countries. I don't think anyone would disagree the project will never recoup its costs but an argument could be made that for the company as a whole it was worth it. You could make similar arguments for the 787 project too - both are indeed extremely interesting endeavours at multiple levels.