Airbus A380 3

[CESSNA1]

ROADBRIDGE: Boeing had the ame concerns when the intoduced the 747 in the early 1970's. They intentionally cut back on seating from 500 people to somewhere around 400 +/- because of this concern. Personally I think it is a non-issue if one goes down. There will be an initial shock and bad press, but people will get over it. I do not think the effect will be lasting. How about the two 747's at Tenerife somewhere around 600-700 people.

Regards
Dave

 

[jetmaker]

Cessna1,

One issue about losing an aircraft with passengers is the liability cost. With upto 25% more pax than a 747, it will be costly for airlines if one of these birds goes down. However, I'm sure the odds of an accident are greater for 2 smaller planes than one large one as most accidents occur at take-off or landing. Maybe that is actually an offsetting factor.

debodine,

I have no idea to what design parameters the aircraft was designed to. It may have been a cargo requirement, which could be the limiting capacity. However, like everything in aircraft engineering, there are standard which the OEMs design to. For example, the average weight of paxs, the volume of cargo containers, maximum loading per sqft on a cargo deck, floor beam, etc.... Anyhow, like I said, the pax capacity limitation was just something I heard, but if it is true, then that explains the proposal for bars, etc....

jetmaker

 

[EddyC]

I'd really like to fly on an A380 someday. The sooner, the better. Too bad I'll never get to fly on a Concord. There's always the Mig 25 though, which was shown on TV giving public excursions.

 

[gwolf]

Guessing most of the posts here are North American, for what it's worth.....

The A380 was going to be even bigger ie 7-800 seats baseline with growth to 1100, this was perceived as the current sensible limit. A long consultation process was undertaken to assess the impact of an 1100 person plane. It became clear that 550 baseline with 800 growth was the sensible compromise to get it into most airports where it was needed with commercially viable levels of investment in airport infrastructure. It's all been thought through.

An interesting recent development is the death of Concord. There are lots of people desperate to cross the oceans in style with a lot of money to spend. The A380 in some of its initial configurations has a VAST first class section with beds, bar, and restaurant for the select few. I expect this to be an interesting and lucrative new market niche just waiting to be filled. It's a bit like the old airships.

 

[unclesyd]

There have been delays announced in the rollout of the A380 due to a slight weight problems as jetmaker alluded to. From my understand they are looking kilograms from everyone even the painters. The delays even got the accountants and lawyers for the customers attention