Jumbos in for the long haul 1 All-round Country Edition

• Published in: Weekend Australian
• Main Author: Bass, Jeremy
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canberra, A.C.T News Limited 10.12.2005

Such is the magnitude of the 747's overhaul that the new aircraft won't be in service until 2009. It retains little of the existing 747-400 beyond the basic shape. Keeping that shape is an important element of Boeing's strategy to counter the inroads Airbus has made into the market with the A380. Boeing is already trumpeting that, unlike its much fatter rival, the 747-8 doesn't demand costly upgrades to infrastructure elements such as runways, taxiways and boarding points. Ironically, says [Richard Aboulafia], Airbus helped opened the door for the 747-8. "When they asked General Electric to modify their [state-of- the-art] GenX engine for their A350 -- the aircraft they're developing to go head to head with the 787 -- Boeing saw it would be perfect for a 747 revival." These aircraft cost billions to develop, and engines and wings consume a sizeable chunk of that cost. That was then. What Airbus didn't anticipate was the way in which the matrix of flight routes encasing the globe would transform in five years. Routes are fragmenting, shifting away from major hubs. Rising demand for travel everywhere has increased the pressure on the hubs, making those slots -- reserved spots in the airport traffic schedules -- more expensive. Hence the increasing preoccupation among airlines with point-to-point routes, with commuters flying direct between smaller destinations instead of taking connecting flights from nearby hubs. "There's a strong trend towards long-range point-to-point travel," Aboulafia says. That was the point behind the recent record-breaking flight in November of a Boeing 777-200LR, a 23-hour single hop by a medium-sized aircraft from Hong Kong to London via the Pacific.