From: Monte Davis 

"John Beamish"  wrote:

>"But in a presentation to analysts and investors, EADS chief financial
>officer Andreas Sperl said that the planemaker still expected to sell more
>than 750 of its new planes over the life of the project."

I learned a lot from my father, who joined American Airlines c. 1954 when
the DC-7 ruled, and retired as an editor of an air travel trade mag in
1985. One point he liked to make was that in 1966-1970, Boeing's 747
development was accurately described as a "bet the company"
gamble that came near to sinking them.

Through the 70s, 80s and 90s that became the case for more and more of new
jetliner development. Even against a steadily rising background of air
travel volume and revenue, the "table stakes" -- and the sales
numbers needed -- were rising even faster. My father would say:
"Everybody in the business likes to recall the old fail-and-try-again
swashbucklers like Trippe and Hughes and [AA's] CR Smith -- but those guys
had no *idea* how financially white-knuckle it could get..."

Monte Davis
http://montedavis.livejournal.com

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