Whoa, Industry.. Take it easy there, pal...
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The 717 is essentially a stretched RJ. It's incredibly efficient (moreso than the A320 family) and reliable (again, moreso than any Airbus).
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First off, the 717 isn't a big CRJ, it's a smaller MD-90.
The dispatch reliability of the A320 series and the 737 series are about even.
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The 737 is only the best selling and most popular commercial airliner of all time. That isn't an accident or fluke. Boeing must have done something right.
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Remember too that, yes the 737 series is the best selling airplane of all time, but it's also a design that dates back to the '60s. The first A320 didn't fly until some time in the '80's. Boeing has a 15 year head start on Airbus.
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The Airbus family is simply a computer with wings attached. Silly me, I thought pilots liked to fly and not program computers. Plus, anyone who saw the footage of the Airbus flying into the trees at the Paris airshow a few years back will think twice before boarding a plane that likes to overrule the judgement of the pilots on board.
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The modern 737 is as much a flying computer as the A320. Explain the 777! You should have the whole story on the Paris Airshow accident before you start blaming the airplane entirely. That accident was as much the pilot's fault as it was the airplanes. The initial problems with the aircraft's design have been addressed, including alot of "requests" that pilots made to the manufacturer (like for instance, allowing the pilot to control throttles directly rather then "by wire").
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Also, to argue price savings is using a little fuzzy math (thanks, W). The Airbus is subsidized by the French government and is not a real company. If D.C. had any balls, they'd slap a tariff on that flying computer equal to the amount of the French subsidy. Suddenly, that price difference goes right out the window.
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Perhaps. But using that argument, how do you think Boeing would be doing if foreign carriers stopped buying Boeing airplanes? Airbus is as much a company as is the US Postal Service or AmTrak is.
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Hmmm.... Buy Boeing and help the American company (and shareholders like me) or buy an Airbus and subsidize socialism. Let me think...
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LOL... Hey, I don't like the French any more then they like us, but I don't think that qualifies them as Commies.
Let's leave the McCarthyism in the past, shall we?
Paul
Oh, forgot to mention too... A sizable portion of the A380 project will be manufactured right in the good ole US of A.