At 05:36 PM 1/8/2003 -0800, you wrote: ><<Jens Hinrichsen, director of the A380 design, said he still expects >United will order the giant plane after it eventually recovers from its >current disastrous financial state. "They will recover," said Hinrichsen, >a 25-year Airbus veteran who has played a role in development of much of >the Airbus fleet.>> > >The Blue Sky Effect. That which prevents mature aviation professionals >from understanding that the act of flying itself is not a >revenue-producing venture simply because one is airborne. The >"scarf-and-goggle" approach to finance. That same spirit which helped -- >nay, forced -- Bill Boeing and Juan Trippe to conceive of and build the >great 747 which made shy of causing the erasure of both of the companies >these men had faught a lifetime to make great. > >For Airbus to issue such a statement when UA is under such heavy financial >restictions seems a tad enthuasiastic. For investors to believe it, that >would be a true fairy tale: "Greetings. A cash-dead overwrought carrier >will turn around and generate enough cash to buy our new planes, and make >us rich." > >Please do pardon the sarcasm. should any exist. All that, and the fact that United doesn't have any wide body Airbuses already. If they chose the 777 over the A340 and A330, and if they have lots of 747-400s parked in the desert, what makes Airbus dream they can sell UA on the A380? Show me one route where UA has saturated all available frequencies with 747-400s and then we'll talk. They don't use 747-400Ds, so why would they use A380s on their domestic routes? They're not running 744s across the Atlantic because they can't get enough capacity and frequency with smaller planes. If the Asian economies were booming and if Tokyo Narita weren't getting a second runway, maybe UA's Asian needs might drive a few A380 sales, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Even the North American-Australian/New Zealand routes aren't going to drive many A380 sales, as far as I can tell. Oh, wait, Airbus wants to sell UA some A380s for their re-entry into the Indian subcontinent. Yeah, that's it! Aiming needles at balloons, Nick