Europe's most weasally leaders, Gerhard Schroeder, Jacques Chirac and Jose Luis Zapatero, were positively giddy about the new Airbus A380 -- a monstrous 800+ seat jumbo-jumbo jet that is now the largest commercial airplane. The Airbus cost $14,000,000,000 to develop and was heavily subsidized by France, Spain, Germany and the UK. But here's the kicker from Airbus chief Noel Forgeard: "The European states -- so easily accused of weakness -- backed this fantastic challenge 35 years ago and have believed in the A380."
Get that? It took Airbus 35 years to produce a jumbo airliner larger than Boeing's 747. That's half a lifetime in most of the countries that backed the project, and it's longer than either Wongdoer or myself have been alive.
Not so impressive anymore, eh?
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