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Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production

nytimes.com

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Re: Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production

#171

Post by kalleboo »

Havoc wrote: post #73
double0jimb0 wrote: post #15

Interning at Boeing in 2005, when the Dreamliner was still 2-3 years away from production, I asked a BD manager if Boeing was worried about A380 (the burning question at the time was "Who is going to win, A380/Airbus or Dreamliner/Boeing"). Without pause, he said "Not worried at all, A380 serves the hub and spoke model, which is dying. People hate layovers, they want more direct flights." Not a hard insight to grasp,…

As long as hub & spoke works out cheaper (which it will thanks to centralisation & economies of scale) it'll have a place in the budget market

It looks like the problem with the hub & spoke model right now is that the big hub airports are all slot-restricted. LCCs like to use smaller airports out of town that have cheaper open slots, and this makes it harder to implement hubs. But I predict as they build out intercontinental travel (like Norwegian are doing now), hubs will emerge for the intra-continental legs.

Re: Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production

#172

Post by culerawo »

ggm wrote: post #114

I am a frequent business flyer, 10+ per year international long haul from Australia. I appreciate that from a north american perspective the 380 didn't make sense either economically from the economy which bankrolls Boeing, or strategically from the economy which has specific interests in international flights homed out of its east and west coast population centres. I can tell you that for the South Pacific, Japan, I…

Wide-body aircrafts with lots of space inside to walk around every few hours in a 12 hour flight are great. For such long trips, I prefer the big B747 or A380 over these ultra long wide-body but still quite claustrophobic narrow low ceiling noisy aircrafts (e.g. B777) that barely have enough restrooms fitted in.

Re: Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production

#173

Post by thriftwy »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #166
holografix wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the “gets longer” reasons you state here are solved by the “add more staff” and “use more exits” options. I also live in Australia and have flown both the Dreamliner and A380 and if possible will always choose the A380. Far roomier plane, much quieter and even though it may be just a coincidence every time it seems to suffer far less turbulence.

> All the “gets longer” reasons you state here are solved by the “add more staff” and “use more exits” options. No. Longer immigration queues could be solved by the government adding more staff, but they cannot be solved by the airline adding more staff, and the airline is the one buying or otherwise choosing to use the plane.

They should definitely pressure the airport (to pressure the government) to create a few of those precious New Jobs and add some more people to immigration. It's just ridiculous in many airports, particularly in Europe. And it's been done, it's not like it's some pipe dream.

Re: Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production

#174

Post by thaumasiotes »

thriftwy wrote: post #173
thaumasiotes wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All the “gets longer” reasons you state here are solved by the “add more staff” and “use more exits” options. No. Longer immigration queues could be solved by the government adding more staff, but they cannot be solved by the airline adding more staff, and the airline is the one buying or otherwise choosing to use the plane.

They should definitely pressure the airport (to pressure the government) to create a few of those precious New Jobs and add some more people to immigration. It's just ridiculous in many airports, particularly in Europe. And it's been done, it's not like it's some pipe dream.

"Let's do the same amount of work with more people" opens the government up to a certain amount of criticism.

Re: Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production

#175

Post by stouset »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #167
jsjohnst wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I question anyone who would chose any other plane over the 787 if they had a choice, especially for long haul flights. My sinuses are night and day feeling better after a flight on a 787. That alone makes up for any annoyance with the windows or other minor inconveniences people frequently quote. > its not 11 abreast pack-em-in which is what the 787 has done Citation needed! I just checked every airline’s seating con…

> I just checked every airline’s seating config for the 787 and all are either 3-3-3 or more rarely 2-4-2 in economy. Is "economy" a more expensive tier? It doesn't seem to make sense that the cheaper tier would give more space per passenger.

Both of those are for economy.

Re: Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production

#176

Post by the_mitsuhiko »

jsjohnst wrote: post #145
ggm wrote: post #114

I am a frequent business flyer, 10+ per year international long haul from Australia. I appreciate that from a north american perspective the 380 didn't make sense either economically from the economy which bankrolls Boeing, or strategically from the economy which has specific interests in international flights homed out of its east and west coast population centres. I can tell you that for the South Pacific, Japan, I…

I question anyone who would chose any other plane over the 787 if they had a choice, especially for long haul flights. My sinuses are night and day feeling better after a flight on a 787. That alone makes up for any annoyance with the windows or other minor inconveniences people frequently quote. > its not 11 abreast pack-em-in which is what the 787 has done Citation needed! I just checked every airline’s seating con…

> I question anyone who would chose any other plane over the 787 if they had a choice

Often that choice is also linked with picking a different airline company. For routes I care about I would need to fly United, American or BA and I rank all of those very low on my picks of airlines. I think for my personal comfort the airline matters much more than the difference between a 787, 330, 350 or 380 make.

Re: Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production

#177

Post by Arn_Thor »

HeavenFox wrote: post #119
ggm wrote: post #114

I am a frequent business flyer, 10+ per year international long haul from Australia. I appreciate that from a north american perspective the 380 didn't make sense either economically from the economy which bankrolls Boeing, or strategically from the economy which has specific interests in international flights homed out of its east and west coast population centres. I can tell you that for the South Pacific, Japan, I…

I find it really hard to agree with you. Maybe you flew exclusively in business or first class? > its not 11 abreast pack-em-in which is what the 787 has done 787 is designed for 8-abreast seating. In reality, carriers almost always went for 9-abreast. 11-abreast is physically impossible. It is possible in an A380 though, and airlines are really considering it. > ... and its a premium quality experience How is flying…

The plane feels more spacious (taller ceiling in the walkway), the seats are bigger and spaced further, at least on Emirates. Added doors on some airports makes the embarkation and disembarkation feel about the same as on any other plane. I prefer aisle so I haven't noticed anything wrong with the curve of the walls.

Re: Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production

#178

Post by erispoe »

HeavenFox wrote: post #119
ggm wrote: post #114

I am a frequent business flyer, 10+ per year international long haul from Australia. I appreciate that from a north american perspective the 380 didn't make sense either economically from the economy which bankrolls Boeing, or strategically from the economy which has specific interests in international flights homed out of its east and west coast population centres. I can tell you that for the South Pacific, Japan, I…

I find it really hard to agree with you. Maybe you flew exclusively in business or first class? > its not 11 abreast pack-em-in which is what the 787 has done 787 is designed for 8-abreast seating. In reality, carriers almost always went for 9-abreast. 11-abreast is physically impossible. It is possible in an A380 though, and airlines are really considering it. > ... and its a premium quality experience How is flying…

I have flown the A380 in economy multiple times. It is a premium experience. The plane is so big that you don't feel turbulences as much. And it's relatively new, so it's very silent. On the upper deck, because of cabin curvature, window seats have a large armrest opening and doubling as a generous chest where you can put all your stuff and keep your legs free of clutter.

Re: Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production

#179

Post by spookyuser »

ralusek wrote: post #163
spookyuser wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this is slightly off topic, but this just happened to me recently. I wanted to make a stupid website that let you make those Ajit Pai memes where he was eating popcorn in front of a green screen. I managed to get the basics working in less than a day somewhere during mid december, but only ended up publishing it nine days ago. The meme was totally dead and the only actual function of the site was in teaching m…

Alright, let us at least screw around with it, please.

Haha you're more than welcome to https://paiboi.herokuapp.com/

Re: Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production

#180

Post by stephen_g »

princeb wrote: post #154
double0jimb0 wrote: post #15

Interning at Boeing in 2005, when the Dreamliner was still 2-3 years away from production, I asked a BD manager if Boeing was worried about A380 (the burning question at the time was "Who is going to win, A380/Airbus or Dreamliner/Boeing"). Without pause, he said "Not worried at all, A380 serves the hub and spoke model, which is dying. People hate layovers, they want more direct flights." Not a hard insight to grasp,…

>People hate layovers, they want more direct flights. still waiting for direct sin-jfk or syd-lhr. none exist. SIN-EWR used to exist, but it was too costly to run. edit: the new a350-900 ULR delivering this year is capable of flying long distance, so we'll see some of these flights reappear, esp now that fuel is cheap again.

Qantas announced last year that they're interested in flying direct to London and some other European cities from the eastern states of Australia. They're still waiting for a plane that can economically I think. A variant of the 777X might be an option.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/qantas-eyes-sydney-to-london-dir...

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