Airbus reveals A380 - Is their vision correct?

I do not know however, it is hoped that for the sake of the Boeing workers and the American economy. I hope that the AirBus falls on it's European Ass.

AFAIK A380 is targeted at the asian market where it would serve the hubs(dubai, singapore, hong kong and may be guangdong in the future) from Europe and may be from US.

Virgin is already planning to have small "casinos" on board its A380 and full fledged beds. However I am not too sure about all these frills (the cost advantage would be lost if space is spend on casinos , bars etc). So best thing would be to wait and see.

Hopefully it will be Concorde 2

business flight is tanking because the technology of media and the fact that airlanes have screwed the business traveller over the years, makes much business travel obsolete.
Ive heard that many airports wont be able to handle the 380 because of height requirements and docking restrictions. I dont know whether runway lengths will need to be extended in order to handle it, I suppose not. Its not any faster.
I see its bigest potential market is as a cargo plane

You have to ask yourself if every airport is supposed to handle A380 or is it aimed at the hubs?

the A380 will be aimed at hub airports, mainly due to the cost of upgrading to handle it.

Im not sure exactly what needs to change, however the wingspan is larger than a 747, requiring some airports to demolish buildings along taxiways, and also widen the taxiways to prevent Foreign Object Damage (FOD)

Runways at major hubs is already long enough to take the A380.

Gate areas may need widening, again due to wingspan. A standard parking box is 80m, while the A380- wingspan is 79.8m, a pretty tight fit.

Height may also be a problem, although most gates are adjustable so should be fine.

The main issue will be modifying terminals to cope with 600+ passengers arriving at once. Additionally 747 aircraft are generally boarded through a single door, while this works fine for 747s, the A380 will take a long time to board through one door. Therefore 2 floored air bridges would be required to allow simultaneuos boarding of upper and lower decks....

Recallin' the hoopla surroundin' the 747's rollout a generation ago- a lotta folks don't realize it, but the effective introduction of video games was PubPong in the 747's now all-but extinct lounge/pub - I expect the A380's lounges and luxuries likewise will give way to revenue-generatin' seats. There is an undeniable economy of scale, and risin' operatin' costs argue intractably for shippin' more revenue payload - goods or human - per operatin' unit.

I don't see the A380 as any sort of revolution, but rather as a continuation and development of the design philosophy that brought us the 747, which when first announced met all-but-identical "But its too big" criticism. The plane will find and fill its niche, and, as in the case of the 747, likely will be very well received by the air-cargo crowd.

I see also great promise for Boeing's 7E7 "point-to-point" concept, specifically in the passenger market. The very fact that only the largest of airports can accommodate either the A380 or the 747 strongly favor the Boeing approach. I expect all 3 planes will be around for a long time. I ain't so sure about the A350, but as many of its systems will be shared with the A380, carriers already deployin' the latter will have incentive to remain in the Airbus family from a maintenance and support standpoint. It could be fairly successful if it otherwise suits the mission requirements.

Anyone not involved in building this generation isn't going to be in the running for the next. Bigger is not just bigger, it is different, from the engineering and manufactoring standpoints.

timberlandko,

A380 is only targeted at the hub-and-spoke model. Ever wonder why the airlines based at the hubs like Emirates, SIA are ordering A380 in large numbers. Airports (especially the hubs) sometimes have a couple of hours of window in which very large number of planes are landing. The only solution is for the planes to go bigger or the airports to have additional runways.

A380-800 is already being offered in single configuration which can seat 800. Only thing not boding well for passenger comfort in cattle class (oops economy class) is the fact that some of the passengers would be 2 seats away from the aisle against the much touted one seat arrangement of the A330/340 family.


roger,

I think what we meant in general about evolutionary steps in aviation would be like the introduction of DC-7, Super Constellation or 707 (or even comet) which changed the aviation industry. A380 or 787 with more composites and requiring changes in tooling etc do not bring about any evolutionary change, IMHO.

"I hope that the AirBus falls on it's European Ass."

Please note that the internet is not just an American thing (here: U.S.; unfortunately I don't know any adjective that means just the US) and that you don't always have to be the best in the world at any price. And please mind your American ass, which is still much fatter than the European one! (I am sorry for spelling mistakes but my mother tongue is NOT English).

Have a nice day