You have some good points Ming.
Your observation with regard to the braking problems on the A340-600 was exactly the point I was trying to present in my last statement; not all aircraft are perfect and the fact that a B777 blew an engine during a demo flight goes to prove this. Perhaps I did not go far enough when presenting my argument.
However, having said this, I still believe that the B777 is a superior aircraft against the A340 series.
As far as your argument on fleet commonality, I , like many others, am still puzzled as to why SAA has decided to transition to an all Airbus fleet while they were already in the process of accepting brand-new B737NG aircraft.
I do believe that this is a result of economics, not necessarily politics. Airbus most likely made an offer to SAA that was too good to pass up. Unfortunately, this offer probably involved selling aircraft far below the normal selling price, which Airbus has been known to do.
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