Keith Harper in London Plans to build a 600- to 800-seat “super jumbo” have been put on=20 hold until next year because of high costs and lack of demand. Boeing and its four European partners this week confirmed the=20 technical feasibility of the scheme, which has been developed over=20 two years, but said: “Market studies do not indicate sufficient=20 volumes to justify the programme.” The European partners, British Aerospace, Aerospatiale of=20 France, Casa of Spain, and Daimler-Benz of Germany, said they=20 would continue to monitor conditions for developing the “super=20 jumbo”. They will review prospects next year.=20 Only British Airways (BA) and=20 Singapore Airlines, two of the most profitable companies in the=20 world, publicly expressed interest in the=20
The partners were divided on the cost, variously reported at=20 between $15-billion and $25-billion over the four to five years=20 required to complete the project. At the Paris air show last month, the head of Boeing’s=20 commercial aircraft group, Ron Woodard, said the risks were so=20 * arge that if the wrong decision was made, a company’s financial=20 viability would be threatened. Nick Cunningham, an analyst with Barclays de Zoete Wedd, a=20 London financial corporation, was unsurprised by the decision to=20 halt the project. He said the market was unlikely to change by=20 January, making the future of the project bleak. Howard Berry, a BAe spokesman, said the “super jumbo” studies=20 had demonstrated the ability of the partners to work together. He=20 indicated that the group would eventually have to decide whether=20 to build one with Boeing or develop a separate, smaller aircraft on=20 its own. The “super-jumbo” is separate from another large aircraft being=20 examined by Airbus, the European consortium which does not=20 include Boeing. This would carry up to 600 passengers.=20 The largest passenger aircraft at present is the Boeing 747, which=20 carries up to 500 people.