An Even Bigger Bird

IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE THAT PLANES CAN GET MUCH bigger than a Boeing 747, which soared into history as the first wide-body jet. The Seattle firm, however, thinks the airline industry is ready for a new generation of carriers, holding up to 800 passengers, vs. a current capacity of 420. Now Boeing has acknowledged seeking European partners for the venture, in the process perhaps nipping a competitor in the bud. If feasibility studies prove promising, the first superjumbos could go wheels-up within 10 years.

Boeing has held "substantive" talks with Germany's Deutsche Aerospace and has met with British Aerospace PLC, two members of Airbus Industrie, the European consortium that has emerged as the U.S. firm's only real rival. The consortium would be pre-empted from building its own superjumbo if one or more of its team enter a deal with Boeing.