That's like throwing away 62 Boeing 747 jumbo jets daily, or driving 8, 730 new Honda Civics into a landfill each morning.
In 1974, the first crash of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet occurred when a Lufthansa airliner crashed after takeoff at Nairobi airport in Kenya, killing 59 people.
The long-haul airlines with the greatest need are already buying the new Airbus, and would have little incentive to wait at least three years for a Boeing super-jumbo to emerge.
ECONOMIST: Airbus unveils its double-decker for a new era in aviation
Exclusive deals could limit the number of potential customers for, say, Airbus's planned 550-seat aircraft, which would mean that that aeroplane (bigger and better than Boeing's jumbo) might not even come to market.
F1 freight is transported on charter flights, with six Boeing 747 'jumbo jets' carrying the cars, so F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone's Formula 1 Management company are not beholden to commercial airlines' decisions on whether to fly to Europe or not.
In America, the antitrust authorities have even allowed the pair to form an alliance to compete with Rolls-Royce to supply an engine for the super-jumbo that Boeing was planning until recently.
Eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana may have sold her Boeing 747-200 jumbo jet, but the family's fleet of planes included, at least until recently, a DC-10, a blue-and-red Boeing 737, a Canadian Challenger 601 and a BAC-111.
As it is, airlines that want simply to use Boeing aircraft will still go on doing so, but at least Airbus now has a chance to flog them a new product which could outperform Boeing's ageing jumbo technology.
But Boeing tore up this deal in 2004 as Airbus prepared to launch the A380 super-jumbo (to challenge Boeing's 747) and the A350 (to vie with the 777 and 787).
ECONOMIST: Boeing gets huge illegal subsidies, the WTO rules
A3XX as big a bet as Boeing took when it launched the jumbo in the 1960s.
And as the jumbo has aged, Boeing's domination of the commercial airways has foundered.
Early sales campaigns for Boeing rival Airbus A380 super-jumbo envisioned cocktail lounges, casinos--even staterooms--making flying more like a luxury cruise.
British Airways plans to order 18 more Boeing 787 Dreamliners to replace some of the carrier's aging 747 jumbo jets.
When I visited Alwaleed in Saudi Arabia in October 2008 as the financial crisis was beginning to take hold, I asked him why he ordered the jumbo jet, especially since he already had a fully decked out Boeing 747.
FORBES: The Incredible, Amazing Jumbo Jet That Prince Alwaleed Never Really Bought
Boeing naturally denies this, but there is a lingering suspicion that Airbus needs the new super-jumbo more than the market does.
Many aviation experts believe that Boeing aircraft are better designed, and the company has avoided pursuing prestige projects like the super-jumbo A380 that lack a well-defined market.
FORBES: European Lies About Airbus Subsidies Set Stage For Major U.S. Retaliation
应用推荐