From kls Mon Aug 18 02:22:17 1997 Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics.airliners Path: bounce-back Date: 18 Aug 97 02:22:17 From: mba340@club-internet.fr Subject: Re: Virgin Atlantic becomes first A340-600 customer; Air Canada orders References: Message-ID: Approved: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Sender: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Organization: mail.club-internet.fr Reply-To: mba340@club-internet.fr >According to AW&ST the target for industrial launch is 25 orders. It >seems clear to me that the two LOI are not sufficient to launch the >programs. Again according to the Seattle Times, " The commitments by the >two airlines also brought Airbus several steps closer to a formal launch >of its planned new version of its widebody A340 aircraft." A319 was launched without any launch customer and orders. >guess is that Airbus will have more than 40 orders for the -500/-600 by >the end of the year. Other customers should be Lufthansa, Swissair, >Sabena, Cathay Pacific, Air France. I'm not sure if Singapore Airlines >will choose the A340-600 or the B777-200X. SIA want an aircraft to SIN-USA without stop. Those two types do not corespond to this expectative considering the real performance of the aircraft and not the performances announced by the airframers.