Airbus A380 maiden commercial flight

[Chacor]

BBC News has some amazing pictures from aboard the first-ever commercial flight of the Airbus A380 (SQ380 from Singapore to Sydney):




The in-seat TV screens have word processing, spreadsheet functionality and USB ports. The aisles are wider than on other aircraft, making moving about much easier.


The stairs to the upper deck! Great for stretching your legs and a novelty only experienced by business class and first class passengers on the Boeing 747 to date.

More images

[mempho]

Are any American carriers set to take delivery of any of these?

[Chacor]

I'd imagine that U.S. airlines would stick to Boeing.

[CajunMama]

Trek hasn't seen this thread yet has he?

[gtalum]

Wow what a sardine can. Just imagine the sensationalism when the first one of these bad boys crashes!

No thanks, I'll stick with the 777 (and 787 in the future).

[gtalum]

I'd imagine that U.S. airlines would stick to Boeing.

Like other airlines, their new purchases are pretty evenly split between Boeing and Airbus.

Boeing builds the better plane by pretty much every measure, but they're much more expensive than Airbus.

AFAIK, every major US airline except for Delta, Alaska, Air Tran, and Southwest use a mix of Airbus and Boeing aircraft now.

[alan1961]

yes a lot of interest here in England on the maiden flight of the Airbus A380..those Rolls-Royce Trent engines used to power it were built right here in my home city of Derby

[coriolis]

Those seats seem narrow. It looks like there's 7 seats side by side. It's not an air bus, it's an air movie theatre.

[gtalum]

Those seats seem narrow. It looks like there's 7 seats side by side. It's not an air bus, it's an air movie theatre.

It's 3-4-3, so there are 10 seats across and two aisles. That alone doesn't tell you much, as seat width depends on the width of the plane and the width of the aisles. The 747 is also 10 across. At least they didn't set it up 2-5-2, with the dreaded middle-middle seat.

[Chacor]

Each economy class seat is a couple inches wider on the A380 I think, compared to a 747.

[vbhoutex]

I have no information, but I would be surprised if the seats used in some of the new A380's were smaller at least in the countries where many passengers are of smaller stature than many of us in America. I may be way off base, but I thought some of the 747's used in Japan and other countries in that area had substantially larger capacities passenger wise due to configuration changes made to accomodate commuting in those areas. It was a long time ago that I thought I read this, so who knows.???

[coriolis]

Oh, 3-4-3. I didn't see the second aisle in the picture. That's better. So at worst the person on the window would have to climb over 2 people to get out.

[DanKellFla]

Seat width and pitch (the distance between the seats) are decided by the individual airlines, not the model of airplane.
As far as I know, no US airlines are buying this pig of a jet. From a business standpoint, it is another Airbus failure. Even by Airbusses own counts, they are over 100 planes away from breaking even. Airbus may never break even on this project. But, there are other factors at work. European subsidies for one. And, I suspect that there is some connecion between some of the middle eastern countries and Airbus. Just look at how many of this planes that Quatar and Kuwait are buying. Doesn't make any sense to me. But, it is a technological marvel. I think that most of them will end up transporting people in a single class configuration in the Asian market on short haul flights. The 787 is going to make it very diffucult for the A380 to compete for long haul flights.

[vbhoutex]

Makes sense for some of the Middle Eastern countries to be buying them since they literally fly in millions of "pilgrims" to mecca.

[gtalum]

As far as I know, no US airlines are buying this pig of a jet. From a business standpoint, it is another Airbus failure. Even by Airbusses own counts, they are over 100 planes away from breaking even. Airbus may never break even on this project. But, there are other factors at work. European subsidies for one. And, I suspect that there is some connecion between some of the middle eastern countries and Airbus. Just look at how many of this planes that Quatar and Kuwait are buying. Doesn't make any sense to me. But, it is a technological marvel. I think that most of them will end up transporting people in a single class configuration in the Asian market on short haul flights. The 787 is going to make it very diffucult for the A380 to compete for long haul flights.

You're right. The A380 was designed and conceived before 9/11 and the subsequent spike in fuel prices and changes to airline strategies. It will never be a commercial success. Boeing struck quite a blow at Airbus by building the 787 which will become the next preeminent long haul airplane.