Infinite MonkeysI didn't realize that damn French plane can carry between 800 and 900 passengers.
Not an original thought, but have the U.S. companies steered clear from such super liners for any particluar reason? Besides the fact that most airports can't handle planes this large (which is, of course, a real concern), or that travel patterns have changed.
What if one of these suckers crashes? 900 people dead in one crash? What airline or aerospace company wants that?
I dunno, just a thought.
Posted by JamesPh. at January 22, 2005 12:49 PMI heard that Boeing did some deep analysis on this, and found that airlines much prefer smaller, more efficient planes. The new Airbus requires that a bunch of people want to go the same place at the same time, and (because of connections) are willing to wait for everyone to get there. I think Boeing's 7E7 is a better direction.
However, FedEx is buying some of the new Airbus planes, and that makes a hell of a lot of sense.
Posted by: Monkey David at January 22, 2005 01:24 PMThe engineering kid I linked to said much the same thing. How the major airlines moved away from the hub-to-hub flights because consumers wanted more direct flights and this plane does not fit that bill, as it is unworkable for so many airports.
Posted by: JamesPh. at January 22, 2005 02:48 PM800-900 passengers seems outrageous, but I do think that there are applications for this. Sure, domestic airlines are shying away from the wide-bodies, but for very long flights (such as those between Europe and Thailand, for example) I'm sure there's a real market for a plane that can take a lot of passengers all that distance without having to touch down somewhere in-between to refuel.
That said, a 900-passenger plane might as well have a giant bulls-eye painted on its belly. It would be an astounding terror target.
On another note, I really enjoy flying on the smaller Airbuses. When I was flying to Philadelphia a lot, America West typically flew A320's, and I strongly preferred those to either the 757 or 737 Boeing aircraft. And when landing in a storm, the fly-by-wire gave me much more confidence than a potentially inebriated AWA pilot. :-)
Posted by: RobbL Monkey at January 22, 2005 03:31 PMBoeing believes that passengers will be more interested in point-to-point flights rather than a slightly cheaper rate to a hub then transferring to another destination. The A380 can't operate in most airports. Here in San Diego the runway isn't long enough. Also there will be large investments in ground infrastructure to service this plane. Boeing is betting their new fuel efficient airliner which can fly into most airports will be more popular.
The marketplace will decide who is right.
I should have read Monkey David's post before I posted mine.
Posted by: Guy Blaisdell at January 24, 2005 10:59 AMhttp://brainpost.blogspot.com/2005/01/good-old-europe-has-made-this-possible.html#comments
"Good old Europe has made this possible," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a packed hall in Airbus's headquarters in Toulouse, southwest France.
That was a barely-veiled barb recalling the US dismissal of France, Germany and other EU states in 2003 as "Old Europe" because of their opposition to the war on Iraq.
I had to post on this when I read the details. You can file this under the "be careful what you wish for column". Airbus unveils its superjumbo, European leaders hail lead over US
Airbus unveiled the world's biggest passenger jet in a glitzy ceremony at which the leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Spain hailed Europe's victory over the United States as the new king of the commercial skies.
The huge A380 superjumbo, which can carry up to 840 people on its two full decks, supersedes the ageing 747 by US rival Boeing as the biggest civilian aircraft ever made.
When it is put into service early next year, it will become the flagship of many airline fleets and offer unprecedented amenities on long-haul services, including, in some cases, gyms, bedrooms and bars.
I have been on enough aircraft to know one thing, I can barely stand 200 people, let alone 840. The crying babies, the smelly people, the guy who takes your armrest, the belligerent drinker, the annoying conversationalist and then their are the delays.
Who's great marketing idea is this, "Yea, I know, lets put 4 times as many people in one of these".
(Childhood flashback warning:) When I was a kid oh so long ago, I can recall when three of us kids only had one bike and about a mile to travel. We would try and put one on the handle bars and one on the back. We called it giving someone a "buck ride". It did not make it more comfortable a trip for any of the three, just expedited the trip by 10 minutes. Many times it was so uncomfortable, we would end up walking anyway.
(...end childhood flashback)
the article continues......
Airline executives at the presentation offered high praise for the A380, even though it has yet to undergo test flights, scheduled for March or April.
Richard Branson, the head of Britain's Virgin Atlantic, said his airline would pamper passengers on the six A380s it has ordered by including gyms, beauty parlours, bars -- and even casinos and double beds. The last two features meant "you'll have at least two ways to get lucky on our flights," Branson joked.
Oh yea! The stench of beauty parlours and sex.......yea, when can I get a ticket! This is not a cruise ship, this is a metal tube flying at 30,000 feet without windows. I am starting to think Boeing doesn't really need to be that worried.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Europe was "unstoppable" when it pooled its efforts.
The plane, Zapatero said, "has turned this historic moment into a moment in which cooperation and globalisation(sp) are giving rise to more peace and justice."
Peace and Justice? WHAT!?! It's a airplane built by the French. Does the name Renault ring a bell?
Posted by: Blog General at January 24, 2005 11:27 PMOn the other hand, those Mirage fighter jets kick ass. At least, that's the way I felt about them when I was in fourth grade.
Did public education make me like French aircraft? It gives one pause.
Posted by: RobbL Monkey at January 27, 2005 08:45 PMThe only airline that will have the bars and the casnos, and the gyms will be Virgin. The 747 was suppost to have this when it came out. Airlines in Japan pack them into the 747's. No airline is going to fly a plane of the size with 400 pax with all the other BS on board. It would cost a hella a lot more to do so. Airlines are after cost per seat to operate their aircraft. More people in an a/c, less cost per pax. It's simple economics.
The 787 is going to be the future of flight, composite aircraft with more fuel efficent engines. Airbus is considering building the A350 which competes with the 787, is just a derviative of the A3xx series of aircraft with more efficent engines and try to use more composites to lighten the aircraft.
Posted by: ACA12 at February 4, 2005 06:10 PMThe new airbus A380 can take 840 people?
Penang now have 21 million people.
What happens that 14 plane crashes?
Penang will be just 15 million people or less.
Regards LH
Posted by: LHLee at February 19, 2005 05:14 AMBonjour,
I think a real market exists for A380 as it exists at the moment for big version of B747-xxx. This airliner will be very well adapted for emerging destination such as Europe/China where chinese tourism forecasts are enormous and growing.
As I red previously, A380 doesn't require specific runways but will use actuals.
For "Blog-general": By the way smelling people, crying babies will be the same for A380 as well they are for actual Airbuses or Boeing, very curious remark. The same for terrorism targeting.
Please note that Renault-Nissan is now the fourth worldwide car manufacturer.
Last remark of LH Lee does not have any sense.
Relating to reliability and safety of Airbuses please have a look to http://www.planecrashinfo.com/worst100.htm which depicts top 100 worst jet crashes. Note that the first civil A300 was hit by a US missile.
US must accept that European Airbus is a real and serious rival in civil aviation business as well as Eurocopter is now the worldwide leader for civil helicopters and very well established in the US market.
I just want to say that I respect american people and country but I also want to point out that US are not the center of the world, every countries have their own capabilities and how-know.
Airbus is a very great succes of several european countries who decided 30 years ago to work together and to offer today the widest range of civil airplanes.
A conviced pro-european who also respect american people,
Jacques