From kls Fri Feb 21 01:10:40 1997 Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics.airliners Path: bounce-back Date: 21 Feb 97 01:10:40 From: M.J.Jennings@amtp.cam.ac.uk (Michael Jennings) Subject: Re: Boeing cancels 747-500X/600X? References: Message-ID: Approved: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Sender: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Organization: University of Cambridge DAMTP In article , Karl Swartz wrote: > >The answer to congestion at airports like Narita is not bigger planes >to shove more people through there, it's overflying Narita wherever >possible. United's ORD-HKG non-stop service is just a hint of what >the future will bring just as soon as politics and longer range planes >like the 777-200X allow it. > The problem with Narita isn't that it is being overused as a hub when there should be direct flights, it's that an airport with a single runway is being used for virtually all international traffic out of one of the world's largest cities, which happens to be the principal city of the world's second largest economy. Narita is woefully inadequate for serving Tokyo, even if you discount onward traffic. There is of course a fair argument that the solution is to build more airport capacity, not larger aircraft, and this is of course true. However, in Japan this is politically very difficult. While it remains politically difficult, there is a market for a larger aircraft. There are only a few airports worldwide for which this sort of argument applies, so the market for such an aircraft at present is only a niche market. However, it is a real one. Michael. -- Michael Jennings Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics The University of Cambridge. mjj12@damtp.cambridge.ac.uk "`I need every aluminum can you can find! And duct tape!"