That's a good question. Other big factors in operating expense are load factor (i.e., percent of seats filled) and weight. The A380 is in trouble because it mea

That's a good question. Other big factors in operating expense are load factor (i.e., percent of seats filled) and weight. The A380 is in trouble because it measures poorly on the preceding and in addition can only fly out of hubs with specially modified gates. The 747-8 seems to be largely a freighter with production down to about 1 a month. At this point it seems unlikely we'll see another big aircraft design program any time soon unless a country like China decides to do one for status reasons.