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Very large planes
大型飛機
Airbus's big bet
空中客車公司的大賭注
Commercially, the A380 super-jumbo will struggle to reach cruising altitude
在商業化的過程中，超級巨無霸客機A380將努力達到巡航高度
THE new venue forDubai's international air show, which opened on November 17th, is yet another testament to the ambitions of the tiny Gulf state.
11月17日，迪拜國際航展將在新的場地開幕，這又是一個小海灣國家的野心的證明。
Al Maktoum airport,when fully operational in 2027, will handle160mpassengers a year on five runways.
阿勒馬克圖姆機場，在2027年完全投入運營時，在它的5個跑道上將承載游客1.6億人次。
And it will operate in tandem withDubai's older airport, which is closer to its centre and currently welcomes60mtravellers a year.
而且它會與更接近中心且每年6000萬游客的迪拜的舊機場同時運行。
The punt on continued growth in demand is also reflected in the big orders for new planes that the region's airlines announced at this week's show.
該地區的航空公司在本周的展會上宣布的大訂單顯示，新飛機的需求依然在持續穩定增長。
Emirates,Dubai's flag-carrier, led the way by ordering 150 of the 777X, a forthcoming revamp of what is currently Boeing's best-selling long-haul plane.
迪拜的標志載體酋長國，一馬當先的訂購150架目前最暢銷的波音長途飛機777X ，會領導一場即將到來的變革。
The deal is worth 76 billion at list prices.
這筆交易的標價為76億美元。
Boeing also landed orders for 75 more 777Xs from the two other fast-growing superconnectors in the Gulf region, Qatar Airways andAbu Dhabi's Etihad.
波音公司也將從其他兩個快速增長的超級連接的公司卡塔爾航空公司和阿布扎比的阿提哈德取回更多777Xs的海灣地區的訂單。
Boeing's archrival, Airbus, won Emirates' endorsement of another big bet in aviation.
波音公司的主要競爭對手，空中客車公司獲得阿聯酋航空代言的另一大賭注。
The airline ordered 50 more of the A380, a super-jumbo launched in2007 inthe hope that carriers would want a plane even bigger than Boeing's ageing 747.
該航空公司訂購了多于50架的A380，A380是在2007年推出的超級巨無霸飛機，為滿足運營商想要比老化的波音747更大的飛機的想法 。
Orders for the giants have stalled in recent years, however, even as demand for smaller jetliners has hit new highs.
巨頭訂單已經在近幾年停滯不前，然而，實際上小型客機的需求已經創下新高。
In 2011 and 2012 there were just over 50 orders for the biggest jets, mostly A380s, and a trickle for Boeing's latest version of its jumbo.
在2011年和2012年剛剛超過50最大的噴氣機的訂單，其中大部分是A380飛機，和波音公司的最新版本巨無霸，這與期望相比只是涓涓細流。
Until now there had been no firm orders this year.
到現在為止今年一直沒有確定的訂單。
Emirates has38 A380s in service and is seeking 100 more, accounting for.
到目前為止阿聯酋航空擁有38架A380飛機在使用中，并希望達到100架以上，占整個市場的一半。
Emirates' enthusiasm aside, views on the A380's prospects are divided.
拋開阿聯酋的熱情不談，對于A380的前景也存在意見分歧。
Some analysts see it as suitable for only a few airlines on a handful of routes.
一些分析師認為它只適用于少數航空公司的極少數的航線上。
Others see it as the best solution to the expected huge increase in passengers flying between the most congested hubs.
而另一些人將它作為解決預計出現的乘客人數大幅增加而導致飛行擁擠的最佳解決方案。
Boeing, whose 777X will seat 350-400, not surprisingly sides with the doubters, reckoning there will be demand for just 700 or so planes with 400-plus seats in the next two decades; Airbus reckons on double that amount.
波音公司的777X將容納350-400人，反對者們并不驚訝于這一點，波音公司還推算在未來的二十年中對于400座位以上的飛機會有700架左右的需求，而空中客車的推算數字是這個兩倍。
The most pessimistic pundits maintain that the European firm will sell no more than 300 of its behemoth. Orders for the 747 are unlikely to revive.
不過最悲觀的專家們認為，歐洲公司將出售不超過300個這樣的龐然大物，甚至連747的訂單數量都不會復蘇。
The doubters say the main benefit of the A380's size, its lower cost per passenger-mile, is overstated: passengers want frequent departures at main hubs, and direct flights between smaller airports.
反對者說，因A380的尺寸更使每英里運載每名乘客的成本降低，是被夸大了：乘客想要頻繁在主樞紐出發或降落，在較小的機場之間乘直飛航班。
Both of these require large fleets of midsized planes, not small fleets of giant ones.
這兩者都需要大型車隊的中型飛機，而不是小型車隊的巨型飛機。
Perhaps only the Gulf's three superconnectors, linking the most popular destinations in Europe andAsiavia their home hubs, will want big fleets of A380s.
也許只有在海灣的三個超級連接者可以通過他們的家庭集線器，將歐洲和亞洲最熱門的目的地連接起來需要架A380的大船隊。
Lufthansa, Air France and British Airways have already ordered as many as they will need for the foreseeable future, reckons Rob Morris of Ascend, a consultancy.
德國漢莎航空公司，法國航空公司和英國航空公司已經為可預見的將來訂購了他們認為足夠多的飛機，羅布·莫里斯的顧問這樣說。
They will fly them from airports with scarce take-off slots, on a few busy routes for which departure times are restricted by the need to arrive at a reasonable hour.
他們將在極少起飛的插槽機場起飛他們的飛機，在一些繁忙的航線上出發時間被限制在合理的時間內。
Emirates could have a further reason to be keen on buying so many A380s.
阿聯酋熱衷于購買這么多架A380的可能還有一個更深層的原因。
Andrew Charlton of Aviation Advocacy, another consultancy, thinks that its big order may give Emirates influence over the design of future Airbus planes, such as its forthcoming A350-1000, a 369-seat rival to the 777X.
另一家咨詢公司，航空宣傳的安德魯·查爾頓認為，大訂單可能在未來的空中客車飛機的設計上產生影響力，如即將試飛的777X的對手A350-1000，擁有369個座位。
Emirates wants its range to be even longer than is currently planned, since it is a long way fromDubaitoAmerica. It would also like just a few more seats.
阿聯酋希望其影響時間比目前的規劃更長，因為從迪拜到美國還有一個很長的路要走。就好像還要更多的席位一樣。
Accusations that the A380 is a niche product rankle with Mark Lapidus, boss of Doric Lease Corp, an aircraft-leasing firm which has 22 of the super-jumbos and plans to order 20 more.
多利安的飛機租賃公司訂購了22架超級客機，并計劃再訂購20架，然而他們的老板馬克·拉皮德斯卻提出指責，認為A380是一種利基產品。
He insists that if worldwide air travel keeps growing by 5% a year, as several forecasters expect, and if main hubs get ever more congested and fuel stays dear, airlines will surely come to see the wisdom of choosing the biggest plane their money can buy.
他堅持認為，如果像一些預言家預計的那樣，全球航空旅行保持每年5％的增長，如果主樞紐依然有如此多的游客，而燃油保持在讓人滿意的水平，航空公司一定會見到他們的錢能買到的最大選擇的智慧。
Airbus is sticking to its target of breaking even in 2015 on a plane thought to have cost it 15 billion to develop; so far this looks optimistic.
空中客車公司堅持認為其目標到目前為止是樂觀的，即使要在2015年打破已花費15億美元的發展。
But it is not impossible that it will turn a profit one day.
但它有一天會變成一個巨大利益也并非不可能。
Sandy Morris of Jefferies, a bank, points out that the peak year for orders of the 747 came nearly 25 years after it first took to the skies.
據銀行家莫里斯杰弗里斯指出， 747的訂單高峰年是距其第一次發射后25年。
Airbus's A330 took 15 years to hit the heights and had no orders in 1994, six years after its launch.
空中客車公司的A330飛機也花費了15年到達高峰，并于6年后，也就是1994年沒有推出訂單。
But until an airline other than Emirates starts to order the A380 insignificant quantities it will be hard to make the case that it is a soaring success.
但直到除阿聯酋以外的航空公司開始批量訂購A380飛機，雖然這很難，它才可稱得上是一飛沖天的成功。
