Airbus delivers first A380 superjumbo to Singapore Airlines

[Hugh_Hoy]

Saw a short video of the rollout. Got these sleeping cabins and one has a double bed! Wonder if the Singy cabin crew girls would be up for a break? :thumbup:

 

HH

[unit731]

Time, of course, will tell if this is a good business decision for Airbus and the airlines.

 

Boeing chose not to compete in this segment.

 

 

Mirror mirror on the wall

Airbus vs Boeing: as the transatlantic spat escalates, the body count grows and so do the recriminations. SIA has received the first of its much-delayed A380 aircraft. The B787 is experiencing production glitches too. Here's David and Goliath.

 

by Vijay Verghese

 

 

ONE IS BIG AND FAT with all the polish of a portly dowager. Critics describe her as a â??dinosaurâ?Â. The other is sleek and quick, and capable of long outings, but derided as incontrovertibly â??plasticâ?Â. Who would you pick for a snog or, in this case, a transpacific flight? With the much-touted rollout of the Airbus A-380 behemoth, the gloves have come off as Boeing cries foul and prepares for the arrival of its very own B-787 â??Dreamlinerâ?Â.

 

Whatâ??s the fuss? Airbus has opted for a super aeroplane that will render the stalwart B-747 all but obsolete, transporting a vast scrum of bodies in one neat package. While offering 49 percent more room than a Boeing 747, the Airbus 380â??s operating costs are cited at around 15 to 20 percent lower per seat. Add to this claims of fewer emissions, less noise, and a seat capacity stretching from the median 555 to a staggering 800 (double the heaving bottoms on a B747), and itâ??s small wonder airline accountants are beaming. Airbus claims its plane is more fuel efficient than a car.

 

But the dinosaur is late. Very late. Singapore Airlines, the launch customer received its first Airbus A-380 in October 2007, a full year behind schedule leading to question marks regarding customer loyalty, final orders, and price reductions as compensation. (On SIA's inaugural flight, seats are being globally auctioned for various charities. The first commercial route will be Singapore-Sydney.) Qantas is harder hit. The Australian national carrier may only start receiving its aircraft in August 2008, two years off the original delivery date. Emirates may scale down its order, Virgin has announced holding back its purchase of six A380s for four years until 2013, FedEx has cancelled its order of 10 Airbus A380 aircraft, opting instead for the Boeing 777 freighter version, and UPS has placed its order on hold. The Boeing Dreamliner had, meanwhile, by June 2007, secured a tentative order for 50 aircraft from an aircraft leasing company. In October 2007 British Airways announced one of its biggest fleet orders in a decade with a mixed purchase of 12 Airbus A380 aircraft and 24 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Said BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh: "These aircraft set the gold standard when it comes to environmental performance."

 

The new, and larger, Airbus wing design ensures future versions of the aircraft can handle a total weight of up to 750 tons. This means the US$280m A380 will achieve optimum cost-efficiency carrying closer to 800 passengers. Thatâ??s a lot of beers and queues for the toilets â?? on two floors. Not perhaps what passengers want to hear. Of course, most airlines will opt for a more sensible seating configuration. Singapore Airlines will offer around 480 seats. Assembly is a major production, one dogged by technical glitches, including wiring delays as the aircraft carries hundreds of kilometres of wire that have to be painstakingly fed to various parts of the frame.

[cavanami]

I want to get to where I am going in the quickest and most comfortable way possible.

 

When I get there, I do not want 989 wankers all running for the Immi cue.

 

I do not want 989 wankers pushing to get their baggage.

 

Gut feeling, I don't need any part of the AirBust.

[rchapstick]

I think I will pass on the WhaleJet, thanks.

 

Unless, of course, my company decides I can fly in those spiffy new SQ First Class seats!

[Mentors]

and imagine the cabin boarding and leaving this monster , no thank you

 

[Mekong]

and imagine the cabin boarding and leaving this monster , no thank you

 

Mentors, you seem to have overlooked the concept of the A380 Airbus at international hubs. Since it is a dual deck aircraft they will be using 2 departure gates, one for each deck, so in fact boarding will take less time than a 747. This is why only a few airports can handle the A380, it is not just the apron at the gate but also the terminals ability to handle 2 streams of passangers at 2 seprate levels. A simple concept merely move two adjacent gates from the horizontal to the vertical.

 

What the A380 promises to offer, and only time will tell if it fulfils its promise, is a more fuel efficient way of facilitating interncontinental air travel, something we all do.

 

And no, I am not a left wing green / enviromentalist, I happen to work in oil and gas industry and over the years I have seen the business change from "Pump it out cheap" to "Conserve your resouces" In my opinion once we use up our finate resources of hydrocarbons we as mankind are fucked.

 

We have gone through Stone Age, Iron Age, Bronze Age etc, now we are in Oil Age, all eras come to an end. we should be in Nuclear Age now, a totally renewable fuel source, in my time on and offin the UK Nuke Industy I have probably worked with the same mined product. U237 ore processed into fuel for a magnox, treat is at sellafield into an AGR, up to Dounrey and into the FBR, then use at Sizewell. The latest designs (which are still on hold) does not require reprossesing, the next generation of reactor can utilise the spent fuel from the previous.

 

Without looking too far into the future all I can hope for in the short term is that by 2012 all public transport / commercial vehicles with in Metro BKK will be NGV fueled, we are working on it.

 

[shygye]

I want to get to where I am going in the quickest and most comfortable way possible.

 

When I get there, I do not want 989 wankers all running for the Immi cue.

 

I do not want 989 wankers pushing to get their baggage.

 

Gut feeling, I don't need any part of the AirBust.

 

You will still be affected when two of these land at BKK just before your flight on the 787.

[CTO]

Did anyone see the photo's of the "Suites", a real room, now that will make life interesting for the rich and famous!

[cavanami]

and imagine the cabin boarding and leaving this monster ' date=' no thank you

[/quote']

 

...in the short term is that by 2012 all public transport / commercial vehicles with in Metro BKK will be NGV fueled, we are working on it.

I see some of the buses in BKK with the NGV stickers on them but they are still coughing out black diesel smoke...oppps, put the sticker on a wee bit early!

[shygye]

Did anyone see the photo's of the "Suites", a real room, now that will make life interesting for the rich and famous!

 

Anyone over 5 ft tall can see exactly what you are doing.