A modern day titanic completed its maiden voyage from Singapore to Australia, with passengers giving quotes to news agencies that would make any PR agent weep with joy. The Airbus 380 is undoubtedly a smashing success (without the iceberg), and passengers from First (Singapore Airlines calls it R Class) to Economy praising it as the best trip they have ever had. All this of course is great news for Airbus which has still been struggling with production delays, and has been accused of literally producing a whale that would sink the boat. Allusions have been made to the Concorde, another aircraft which received amazing reviews, but failed to make any money for its British-French owners.
Absent from customer lists are any American based airlines, which is understandable, one may simply compare the seats and service of a couple of code-shared flights between operators to realise the American airlines really do not give much of a damn about the superiority of seats, and craft. The other fact is that even if they do not place any orders, America with its long distance especially from Asia will be the ideal market for the A380. Connects like Singapore-SF, HK-SF, Tokyo-SF, already cross the fourteen hour travel line which converts air travel from bearable to nightmare for most. Let's also not forget the logistics market and while the major courier companies pulled out due to the delays they will be back. Air cargo is still a high growth segment.
(Source: AP)The A380 is being hailed as the last of an era of super-jumbos; a prediction that may turn out true. But certain economics indicate that while you will not see this plying from JFK to LA much, it certainly is a very viable option from trans Atlantic and trans Pacific flights.
- Comfort, people may be willing to pay a slight premium for this
- Novelty Factor - which would last at least a decade
- Gate Access - the major hubs ration these out at huge expense, more passengers / gate is always a good calculation
- Fuel Costs - Much more efficient than its 747 cousin, and beats the crap out of any passenger / fuel cost ratios
- Opening of Skies - most high volume routes are still closed to real competition, when opened gate access, runway time, and such will go up
- Consolidation - Yes, yes, you can proclaim the death of the hub and spoke system all you want, fact is for most international routes, this will be the most economical way to travel.
- People - Economy class passengers have always shown the willingness to be treated awfully for a few more dollars off their fare, 800 passenger configs anyone?
- Emergencies - Try evacuating all the Americans out of Iraq
- Innovation - Kingfisher airlines has indicated it would ply a India-US route with a Casino in flight in international airspace, 12 hours, nothing else to do - talk about captive audience!
- Luxury - Business class passengers and lower-end private plane customers will love this.
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