Re: SFGate: Father of 747 Sees Big Things for New Jet

[Bahadir Acuner <bahadiracuner@xxxxxxxxx>]

What's funny about this press release is that what
people said at the beginning of the 747 program, is
the same thing people are saying about the A380
program. 

I think , if Airbus gets it right, A380 will be really
successful. 

BAHA
Fan of 777s and 320s 

--- Bill Hough <psa188@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

> =20
>
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> This article was sent to you by someone who found it
> on SFGate.
> The original article can be found on SFGate.com
> here:
>
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2005/12/13/financial/=
> f214010S15.DTL
> 
>
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> Wednesday, December 14, 2005 (AP)
> Father of 747 Sees Big Things for New Jet
> By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE, AP Business Writer
> 
> 
>    (12-14) 03:39 PST Everett, Wash. (AP) --
> 
>    Decades after he engineered Boeing Co.'s original
> jumbo jet, the father =
> of
> the storied 747 said Tuesday that he expects big
> things from the latest
> version of the double-decker behemoth.
> 
>    Speaking to some 2,000 employees gathered for a
> celebration at the
> assembly plant in this city north of Seattle, Joe
> Sutter noted that the
> current version of the plane, the 747-400, has been
> the hottest seller of
> any 747 model yet.
> 
>    The company has sold more than 700 of them since
> 1985, according to its
> online database of orders and deliveries.
> 
>    "I predict the 747-8 will match that market and
> might even surprise the
> marketeers," said Sutter, who retired in 1986 after
> 40 years at Boeing and
> now works as a consultant to the company.
> 
>    Boeing announced last month that it was launching
> the 747-8, a bigger,
> more fuel-efficient version of the four-engine
> widebody plane. It's
> designed to compete with rival Airbus SAS' A380
> superjumbo, which will
> overtake the 747 as the world's largest commercial
> jet when it enters
> service next year.
> 
>    So far, Boeing has won orders only for the
> freighter version of the 747-=
> 8,
> which will be about 18 feet longer than the current
> freighter model.
> 
>    The passenger version will seat 450 people in a
> standard three-class
> configuration, up from 416 in the current model, and
> will feature a
> redesigned interior. It will be nearly 12 feet
> longer than the current
> 747, and will be capable of flying 9,200 miles.
> 
>    Both versions of the current 747 are nearly 232
> feet long. The A380 is
> about 240 feet long and will carry about 550
> passengers in three classes
> or 800 passengers in a single class. It, too, will
> be capable of flying
> about 9,200 miles.
> 
>    Jeff Peace, vice president and general manager of
> the 747 program, said
> Boeing has marketed the 747-8 to several interested
> airlines and expects
> an order for a passenger version of the plane
> sometime next year.
> 
>    Sutter, 84, recalled the early days of the 747
> program, when his wife
> would dread going to the grocery or playing bridge
> with her friends,
> because people would ask her what her husband was
> thinking, designing such
> an enormous plane.
> 
>    "The question, 'Will this thing ever fly?' was
> actually asked," Sutter
> said, drawing chuckles from the crowd. "The market
> people in New York
> thought it might be a white elephant, and people
> were predicting that 200
> of these airplanes would be the maximum market. ...
> Those 200 airplanes
> have now stretched out to 1,400 airplanes, and all
> of the airplanes that
> were being developed at the same time as the 747
> have disappeared."
> 
>    Industry analysts have predicted that the 747-8
> will steal potential A380
> customers away from Airbus, based in Toulouse,
> France, and owned mostly by
> European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co.
> 
>    In a recent interview, Airbus spokesman Clay
> McConnell said the company
> remains confident that it will win at least half of
> the market's jumbo jet
> orders over the next 20 years.
> 
>    "This is the sixth derivative of the 747. It's a
> plane that can be offer=
> ed
> out there at a relatively low cost ? smart and
> entirely predictable
> move on their part. We still think we have a better
> product," McConnell
> said.
> 
>    Kourosh Hadi, a chief product development
> engineer, said designs for the
> 747-8 will be finalized by 2007. Boeing will begin
> building the plane in
> 2008, run the first test flight in early 2009 and
> deliver the first plane
> in September of that year.
> 
>    ___
> 
>    On the Net:
> 
>    www.boeing.com/commercial/747family/index.html
> -------------------------=
> ---------------------------------------------
> Copyright 2005 AP
>