Airbus A380

Is there a big enough market for this to pay back on the investment?

I recall a lecture way back in college -- in my transportation classes -- and we were talking about the prospects of a super-jumbo plane ... bigger than the 747 which defined big back then. The professor expressed skepticism ... his point was that the bigger the plane, the more effort it took to collect the "payload." Meaning ... except for high-volume trunk routes, getting 500+ people together to go somewhere ain't easy.

Boeing is betting their corporation on the opposite model -- smaller planes that can more efficiently spirit fewer people to lots of different locations. I guess the objectives of their design was much better fuel efficiency per passenger mile delivered.

Did you know that the 747 was originally designed to be a freight carrier? The notion of carrying people was an afterthought. The bubble cockpit was so the nose could hinge up and expose the main tube of the plane to cargo loading.

Is there any more iconic plane profile in all the world than the 747?