Airbus Jumbo Trouble Airbus Jumbo Trouble

Popular Mechanics: Jumbo Trouble tells of some of the problems that Airbus is having getting its superjumbo A380 in the air and sold. While Boeing was aiming a fued efficient small wide body at the middle of the market, Airbus was spending essentially public money on the bragging rights to the biggest commercial aircraft. So far, Boeing appears to have made by far the better choice. And it may be able to take some of that market away from Airbus with its upcoming 747-800, with almost as much passenger capacity as the A380, at a much lower development cost (since it is, after all, a 747, first flown over 35 years ago).

My take is that private enterprise again manages to outmaneuver a government consortium, because greed is a much better motivator for making good business decisions than is national pride.