4 ms·

Airbus won't do anything until someone proves the economics of it make sense.

by crowcroft 2y ago

drysine 2y ago
Won't do things like A380?
- tastyfreeze 2y ago
  More of the same but bigger? While it is a feat of engineering to make an aircraft the size of an A380 it is essentially the same design as every other commercial airliner, not revolutionary.
  - crowcroft 2y ago
    Super impressive, but I agree with this, it was an easier project to plot on a spreadsheet and forecast a path to profitability. Using current technology and looking back at the Concorde to make any predictions on supersonic passenger travel generates a spreadsheet with a lot of red on it.
    - tastyfreeze 2y ago
      If somebody wants to burn their time and money trying I am totally cool with it. If they succeed in their vision they will be handsomely rewarded and transport gets faster. If they fail they still tried to make the future more amazing.
      - crowcroft 2y ago
        Hell yea brother
- IndrekR 2y ago
  Without A380 there would be no A350 XWB.
  - papertokyo 2y ago
    Why is that? (These are my favourite planes to fly on, curious how the A350 is derivative given the apparent difference in packaging.)
  - panick21_ 2y ago
    That's kind of a ridiculous statement. With the money spend on A380 they could have developed a whole lot of different things.
- chgs 2y ago
  Probably not again given what a commercial failure it was
- Intralexical 2y ago
  Boeing proved "Big Plane" was profitable with the 747. Unfortunately for Airbus, it also stopped being profitable before they finished the A380.
sofixa 2y ago
They won't do supersonic jets in particular, but they already have a ton of moonshots to try make sustainable aviation possible and with economics that make sense. Stuff like hydrogen propulsion, hydrogen electric, and battery electric designs, with a variety of weird shapes and forms. They're the only big aircraft manufacturer with such a wide array of potentially groundbreaking (if they make it) research. And theirs is drastically more important than Boom - time and time again, it has been proven that mass aviation is all about economics, not speed. Soon it will be economics + sustainability, speed being a niche which might not even be profitable (Concorde, Convair and many others have tried differentiating themselves on speed and failed). https://www.airbus.com/en/innovation/energy-transition/hydrogen/zeroe https://www.airbus.com/en/innovation/energy-transition/hydro...

Airbus won't do anything until someone proves the economics of it make sense.

drysine 2y ago

Won't do things like A380?

tastyfreeze 2y ago
More of the same but bigger? While it is a feat of engineering to make an aircraft the size of an A380 it is essentially the same design as every other commercial airliner, not revolutionary.
- crowcroft 2y ago
  Super impressive, but I agree with this, it was an easier project to plot on a spreadsheet and forecast a path to profitability. Using current technology and looking back at the Concorde to make any predictions on supersonic passenger travel generates a spreadsheet with a lot of red on it.
  - tastyfreeze 2y ago
    If somebody wants to burn their time and money trying I am totally cool with it. If they succeed in their vision they will be handsomely rewarded and transport gets faster. If they fail they still tried to make the future more amazing.
    - crowcroft 2y ago
      Hell yea brother
IndrekR 2y ago
Without A380 there would be no A350 XWB.
- papertokyo 2y ago
  Why is that? (These are my favourite planes to fly on, curious how the A350 is derivative given the apparent difference in packaging.)
- panick21_ 2y ago
  That's kind of a ridiculous statement. With the money spend on A380 they could have developed a whole lot of different things.
chgs 2y ago
Probably not again given what a commercial failure it was
Intralexical 2y ago
Boeing proved "Big Plane" was profitable with the 747. Unfortunately for Airbus, it also stopped being profitable before they finished the A380.

sofixa 2y ago

They won't do supersonic jets in particular, but they already have a ton of moonshots to try make sustainable aviation possible and with economics that make sense. Stuff like hydrogen propulsion, hydrogen electric, and battery electric designs, with a variety of weird shapes and forms. They're the only big aircraft manufacturer with such a wide array of potentially groundbreaking (if they make it) research. And theirs is drastically more important than Boom - time and time again, it has been proven that mass aviation is all about economics, not speed. Soon it will be economics + sustainability, speed being a niche which might not even be profitable (Concorde, Convair and many others have tried differentiating themselves on speed and failed). https://www.airbus.com/en/innovation/energy-transition/hydrogen/zeroe https://www.airbus.com/en/innovation/energy-transition/hydro...