A really impressive airplane!However, the title 'King of the skies' doesn't suit it very well, as the 748 is quite small compared to the A380...and there can only be one King of the Skies, and as long as there is an A380 the 748 will always stay behind at 2nd place :-) Also, the claims on the website (e.g. 'The 747-8 is 12% more fuel efficient than the A380' or the Trip costs for the 748 from a Boeing perspective compared to the A380) are of course not only purely theoretical at the present time, but also just an wishful expression of how Boeing would like to see the world around.Enough of european proudness, regardless of the facts stated above, the concepts from Boeing for this new bird are more than interesting, and I'm quite sure this will keep the market for large wide-body aircraft interesting in the coming years.Martin

>A really impressive airplane!>>However, the title 'King of the skies' doesn't suit it very>well, as the 748 is quite small compared to the A380...and>there can only be one King of the Skies, and as long as there>is an A380 the 748 will always stay behind at 2nd place :-) >Also, the claims on the website (e.g. 'The 747-8 is 12% more>fuel efficient than the A380' or the Trip costs for the 748>from a Boeing perspective compared to the A380) are of course>not only purely theoretical at the present time, but also just>an wishful expression of how Boeing would like to see the>world around.>>Enough of european proudness, regardless of the facts stated>above, the concepts from Boeing for this new bird are more>than interesting, and I'm quite sure this will keep the market>for large wide-body aircraft interesting in the coming years.>>MartinOh no. Here we go... Coke or Pepsi? ;)Before this forum is locked I would like to bet an MD-11 that the lockdown will happen before the weekend is over. :)Best Regards,Victor Limahttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

I have copied over my post within the PSS forum after reading a similar thread.....I always smile to myself when I read threads such as this one. The Airbus or Boeing die-hards seem to find it necessary to bicker over who is best, quite often with no sound arguments.As I see it, we have a healthy situation with 2 major manufacturers challenging for global business. The worse possible scenario would be total domination by either one.I do agree however, that the newly announced 747-800 is in no way an answer to the A380 and demonstrates that Boeing made an error in judgment regarding the interest in this type of aircraft. However, the Boeing have definitely surged forward with the 787, demonstrating how they too can design excellent, modern aircraft.All in all, I believe we should be thankful that we have a competitive market place and 2 successful and forward thinking manufacturers.

>All in all, I believe we should be thankful that we have a>competitive market place and 2 successful and forward thinking>manufacturers.He, he, he :-lolIf you read my post carefully, you will find that my thoughts are pretty much the same. As I work for a big airline, anything else would be quite stupid from my point of view.Nevertheless, couldn't resist to post the statement about Boeings wishful thinking. I find it quite amusing how the big ones in the aircraft business fight each other with their quite unsubstancial marketing blah-blah. The Boeing website above is a very good example for that. Of course the Airbus marketing is not an inch (or 'centimeter' ;-) ) better.Martin