I happen to subscribe to the believe that the best player(s) should win.
Boeing has been trailing Airbus for some years now, both in technological
development and in marketing strategy. Condit has paid the price, which I'm
sure came as a surprise to no one here, and the company is logically paying
the price in market share.

There is room for both, of course, and there is a serious issue regarding
subsidies. If you listen to Boeing execs, they'll tell you you don't
contribute anything to the 7E7 program until you actually fly in one, whereas
the A380 will cost a lot to the European taxpayers, even if they never fly,
and particularly if it's not successful. The truth, as usual, is a bit more
shades of grey, as both companies have received and will continue to receive
considerable subsidies - but Boeing has a point nevertheless. No one will ask
the European citizens their opinion before bailing out Airbus, should the A380
fail to meet expectations. In fact, they will never even be told the full
amount of the subsidy they're to hit up for.

You have to give Airbus some credit - not only for coming up to parity market
share with Boeing in so few years, but also for forging ahead with a real
market strategy. "We're tired of being shut out of long haul markets,because
we have no answer to the 747, so we're going to out-jumbo the jumbo!" Time
will tell if it's a good move or not, but it's at least a readable strategy,
while Boeing has been flirting around for years with different flavored
fantasies, before finally settling on what looks like a typical medium-haul
airliner with a curvy paint scheme.

It looks like the competition is good for the airlines and the travelling
public, but very risky business for manufacturers.

G Faris