That number (250) is as quoted in the Times in London last week on their major A380 article. With a break even of 250 and almost 150 launch orders before the first flight that is an excellent position to be in. And what will follow the A380 ? Well, the Concorde intake control computers (the real heart of the aeroplane and something the Russians never got right on the Tu144) ) appear to have been spirited away, hot tip is to Toulouse, so perhaps a son of Concorde will appear from Airbus , in time, its difficult to know just where, otherwise, Airbus will go with the announcement of the A350 to counter the 7E7.

And as for Concorde economics "sucking" I think its pretty conclusive that they were the absolute best of ANY SST, totally unmatched, after all the aircraft was in commercial service for 25 years and did exactly what the designers intened it to do !

Sorry to hear that some sources rate the 757 and 737 as uncomfortable, must be a US thing (width of American posteriors perhaps ? ) never heard that in Europe.

And anyone who thinks that comfort on shorthaul has become increasingly important, the fantastic growth of the low cost carriers, Easyjet, Ryanair, JetBlue and all the myriad of the such carriers tends to disprove that, price is everything, you can't even recline seats on Ryanair and they have even removed window blinds, and they are doing great business ! Long haul is different and the economics of the 380 should allow more comfort for the same price, it certainly will be interesting to see how the quality Asian carriers (SIA, Thai, and Malaysian) market their premium seats. My guess is that customers will benefit hugely from this aircraft.

Can't undestand what all this fuss and muddled thinking is about boarding delays. When the 747 entered service it more than doubled the capacity of the narrow body long haulers, 707, DC8, VC10, and boarding times were retained at about STD -40. The A380 increase in capacity over the 747 from 400 on a 744 to 550 typically on the 380 , only a 40 % increase so my guess is boarding and disembarkation times for the A380 may even be less than the 744, particularly as its a double decker and appropriate airbridges are being installed at 380 airports.

I'm certainly not anti Boeing (they make superb aircraft) having been a captain on various Boeings for almost 20 years but its great to see Europe giving Boeing a real run for its money, particularly since Boeing no longer have any competion from Lockheed and MacD.

Regards,

David Gladwin