Centurion

A380 ? Old hat. The 747 is reborn as the 747-8 with its first flight today.

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/t...electedImage=0

renth

Cool, except in picture 3 two of the engines appear to be on fire.

DunRoaminTheUK

It's like putting an "8" at the end of the name "Morris Minor".....

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Having spent a good portion of my working life as a BAe employee all I can say is "Come on Airbus !!". Sod the Yanks. I hope Boeing go bust.

Lord_Farquar

So all they have really done is paint a 'go faster stripe' down the side. Think I will carry on flying the A380.

Santa

Funny that the internal seating pictures show First and Business, they seem to have forgotten Sardine class

Lord_Farquar

I thought that. I think it's a concept for a VIP plane and most of the seating/internal arrangements will not make it onto normal planes.

You can bet your bottom dollar Boeing will manage to shoehorn more economy seats into the same space.

Amazulu

I think the freighter version will go ahead but I have my doubts about the passenger version, Boeing have not sold many 20 to Lufthansa and 5 to Korean (plus a couple of VIP models).

Wol

I must say that I prefer the Boeing design philosophy. The French way overcomplicates things, and pushes the envelope a little too far for my liking.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

I worked in BAe Military, so fortunately didn't have to deal with the French that much... I left around the time the Typhoon started being worked on.

Lord_Farquar

You luddite you.

Wol

Perhaps. In civil aviation not a bad thing to build on tried and tested hardware - like the 747 - and update its systems etc.

Boeing are not afraid of digital controls - like engine controls, for example - but not just for the sake of it. Airbus (although I don't make any claim to be familiar with them) seem to do things just because they can.

So long as the champagne is cold, and frequent............

Lord_Farquar

True, but having travelled on both Boeing and Airbus, I think the difference in technology is quite marked.

Wol

Probably why I'm using XP instead of Vista....

Lord_Farquar

Not 3.1?