Airbus SAS has just announced the A380 super jumbojet that can carry 555 people. Refer to:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aegYdE4HuzDg&refer=top_world_news

This new widebody jet cost Airbus SAS US$ $16 Billion in research and development costs (NASA's FY05 budget is $16.2 billion). The A380 was more-or-less designed as a 747 killer. America's export of commercial aircraft like the 747 has been one of the few things that kept our balance of trade from being catastrophic.

As an aeronautical engineer, I'm actually a bit relieved the Europeans are still investing in commercial aircraft development. Boeing has abandoned its SST, Sonic-cruiser and blended-wing programs. Boeing's latest design is the 7E7 which is underwhelming to say the least. There are opinions out there that Boeing will get screwed big time by the 7E7, refer to:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2001814650_boeing14.html

It's hard for me to tell if the European A380 is a good or bad thing for American aviation. If the A380 flops commercially then this could be a "stake through the heart" for Airbus. It's difficult to imagine them recovering the US$ $16 Billion development cost. Boeing would then be sitting pretty with the old 747 design. However this would also spell the end of significant commerical aircraft innovation (our great great grandchildren will be flying around in 747 derivatives). I'm not happy about that prospect. Of course if the A380 succeeds then that will be the Goetterdammerung for American wide body commercial aviation. The Europeans will be ahead of us in the aviation research-and-development spending cycle. Without a massive government subsidy we'll never break out of that cycle. The original 747 was a design derivative from a military transport design competition against Lockheed's C-5. Lockheed won the military design competition but Boeing was crying all the way to the bank with their "loser" 747 commercial derivative courtesy of Uncle Sam's R&D funding. I've got a gut feeling the A380 is a lose-lose situation for all parities concerned.

Comments anyone?

Gary