2005-01-14T18:19:50Z 2005-01-14T18:19:50Z 2005-01-14T20:54:34Z

<p>This week&rsquo;s <cite>Economist</cite> <a href="http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3555366" title="Airbus v Boeing">looks at the public introduction of Airbus&rsquo; new A380 super-jumbo</a> and the efforts of rival Boeing to come up with a different strategy based on its 7E7 Dreamliner. My gut feeling is that Airbus is banking on the continued success of legacy-style long-haul &ldquo;hub-and-spoke&rdquo; travel, which makes sense in developing markets, while Boeing is expecting the 7E7 to succeed in the transatlantic market between smaller destinations.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the European Union and United States have <a href="http://www.danieldrezner.com/archives/001822.html">agreed to keep the subsidies dispute</a> outside the <acronym title="World Trade Organization"><span class="caps">WTO</span></acronym> process, at least for the time being. And, in other Boeing news, the airline is <a href="http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q1/nr_050114a.html">ending production of the Boeing 717</a>, the latest (and last) incarnation of the DC-9/MD-80 series of aircraft; Stephen Karlson <a href="http://coldspringshops.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_coldspringshops_archive.html#110573936738334959">has some brief thoughts</a> on the matter.</p> <p><span class="update">Update (from RKP):</span>A quick expansion on Chris's point: if you want to read about the emergence of air taxis and point-to-point air travel, I highly recommend <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=memphiswatch&amp;path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F1586481401%2Fref%3Dlpr_g_1%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks">Free Flight</a> by James Fallows. I'm not an aviation enthusiast, but just a guy that spent WAY too many hours on airplanes for a few years. The possibility of being able to fly out of an airport near the house with minimal fuss, and in an <a href="http://www.eclipseaviation.com/">Eclipse 500</a> jet, has a lot of appeal.</p> http://blog.lordsutch.com/archives/2379 http://blog.lordsutch.com/atom.cgi/entryid=2379