Everyone has been talking about the Airbus A380. Delivery delayed by almost two years, Singapore Airlines made its maiden flight yesterday with 450 passengers onboard. The superjumbo took off from Changi Airport to Sydney at 8am. The youngest passenger a 10-month-old boy to the oldest, a 91-year-old man. There were 75 journalists from all over the world and many of the successful bidders for seats.
SIA, the first to operate the double-decker giant sold more than 650 one-way seats to Sydney and back in a charity auction. The bids came from 35 nationalities paying from USD560 for an economy seat to USD100,300 for a pair of one-way suite tickets. Close to USD2million (RM7million) were raised for charity.
The A380 is the biggest jetliner ever built. The combined floor space of its two decks could contain nine squash courts with a tail seven storeys high. Airports have had to widen runways and install special jetways just to handle the plane.
The aircraft has been certified to carry 853 passengers, yet SIA is providing just 471 seats on the aircraft which has 50% more floor space than the Boeing 747-400. The French fashion house, Givenchy, has been hired by the airline to create the interior of the plane.
For all that luxury, SIA's first class fares between Singapore and Sydney are 20% more than for the same route on the airline's 747-400s. The one-way fare comes up to around USD6000, excluding taxes and extra charges. Business class passengers pay a 15% premium, about USD4140 one way, excluding taxes and charges.
Seven out of the 14 carriers that plan to fly the A380 are also doing them up in luxury. The seven are Emirates Airline, Qantas Airways, Deutsche Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, Korean Air, Kingfisher Airlines and SIA. They have all configured their planes with an average of 503 seats even though the A380 is certified to carry 853 passengers.
SIA has 19 of the super-jumbos on order, Emirates 47 and Qantas 20. Airbus which has received an order for 165 A380s from 14 customers will need to sell about 420 units to break even.
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I remember people once thought zeppelins were the ultimate in luxury long-distance travel...till they realized the things had a bad habit of burning. Hopefully the A-380 will be a bit more fortunate.
ReplyDeleteStill, though Airbus claims the A-380 is the most fuel-efficient jetliner in existence, I think I'd still rather see more planes like Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, which belches out much less carbon than most jets.
Quite an engineering achievement, but I don't think I want to ride one. How long does it take to board and deplane? How long is the wait for baggage? Yipes. I hope the 787 is more successful - plenty big enough.
ReplyDeleteA380 is only fuel-efficient if it carries 853 passengers as its capacity permits...
ReplyDeleteMM, the A-380 is really a massive machine as compared to the 787 Dreamliner.
ReplyDeletePandaB, some food for thought there. Each disembarkation would increase human traffic at the airport and slow down immigration lines.
KS, I think so far no airline has yet configured their plane to take the max number of passengers.