The problem is that the 747 is already too big for most airlines. The trend is to smaller planes. The market for an airplane that seats that many passengers is extremely limited. Airbus is banking on that changing. I'm not sure it will.
Boeing had a jumbo engineered and decided against putting it into production a few years ago for just that reason. Instead, they chose to go with the Dreamliner, a super-efficient medium sized narrow body aircraft. It's been selling big and it is aimed at where the market is trending.
And, yeah...I'm with you, there's no way in hell Airbus isn't being subsidized significantly.
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