Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics.airliners Path: news From: rdd@cactus.org (Robert Dorsett) Subject: Re: Boeing 747-300 (PLEASE let this be the end of it! :-)) References: Message-ID: Approved: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Organization: Capital Area Central Texas UNIX Society, Austin, Tx X-Original-Message-Id: <9211241245.AA19191@cactus.org> Sender: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 06:45:43 CST Michael Weiss wrote: >Airbus is truly working on the plane, and hopes to knock Boeing out of the >747 sales. Airbus is not working on the plane. It has no launch customers, and has not committed resources to it. It is in a very preliminary concept stage, which is being heavily hyped, as part of the marketing effort. It's a major step: the failure OR success of the airplane can easily damage the consortium, if they figure the market wrong. >However, Boeing has a history of being the best aircraft in the >world in terms of maintenance; Airbus apparently makes planes that are almost >as difficult to repair and inspect as McDonnell-Douglas. I've heard that Airbus maintenance is highly modular, highly automated, and very structured, with no more problems than what one might expect when client airlines switch from one vendor's accounting/maintenance practices to another. This takes time, it takes a lot of training, and it is a standard- ization nightmare: but there's little to suggest one manufacturer's program is better than the other's, on its own merits. >> McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 1993 > >Try 1992. The MD-11 was certified in October of 1991. By the end of 1991, MDC had made in excess of 30 deliveries of the MD-11. First deliveries tend to follow certification VERY quickly. >> Airbus AE-400 1994 > >Sounds about right. Well, they were talking about '93, but that likely means >1994. Supposedly, it will compete directly with the 747. The A340 should receive certification next month, with deliveries in January 1993. The A330 was rolled out last month, and should be certified by mid-1993. These are the only two new active programs Airbus is working on, apart from the A320 derivatives. >> Boeing 777 1995-6 First flight by June 1, 1994, deliveries in 1995, based on the July 1, 1992 Flight International. --- Robert Dorsett rdd@cactus.org ...cs.utexas.edu!cactus.org!rdd