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Boeing Mulls Stretching 777 to Knock Out Airbus A380
Boeing Co. is proposing to stretch its largest 777 model to create a twin-engine behemoth aimed at delivering a knock-out blow to Airbus Group SE’s struggling A380 superjumbo, said people familiar with its plans. The U.S. planemaker has approached several carriers about the plane it calls the 777-10X, including Dubai-based Emirates, the world’s largest operator of both Boeing’s 777 and Airbus’s double-decker aircraft, said the people, who asked not to be identified because talks are private. (aviationsquad.com) المزيد...
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I find myself extremely doubtful about the technical ability to stretch the airframe any further. The 779 is already at 76.7m, already longer than the A346 or A380, and four extra rows would push it beyond 80m, which seems... difficult to handle, at the very least. Fitting it into airports would be a big issue.
The article states that the aim in stretching the 777 is to pack in around 450 seats, but there are already 773 in Air France's lineup that pack in 464 passengers. Believe me, a 7 hour flight to Paris seems very long in them, I try to avoid them the best I can. Not only are you squeezed in like a sardine in a can, but it takes forever to load and unload the human cargo.
I mean by surface area it would be substantially larger than a 773. They mean 450 in international standard 2-2.5 class arrangement, which the 773 can't do (that 464 arrangement is 14/32/418 B/PE/E, hardly international standard).
You are of course right, it is not international standard, but I'm afraid it might become on routes where there's heavy demand for leisure travellers and very limited demand for business class, like the Montreal-Paris route. I remember how I liked the 777 when it had 9 across seating, but now most have 10 across economy cabins, reason for me to explore other options.
