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The A380 Debuts at LAX on Monday
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You’ve no doubt heard all the controversy surrounding the new Airbus A380—the superjumbo jet that forced runway modifications at LAX and other airports? It has been hampered by expensive delays attributable to a dysfunctional manufacturing system that relies on several different companies in several different European countries. Well it’s finally coming to LAX.
According to the media advisory:
"The Airbus A380 -- the world's largest airliner -- is scheduled to make an historic first visit to the U.S. West Coast when it lands at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Monday, March 19, 2007. The historic flight is being conducted by Airbus, Los Angeles World Airports and Qantas Airways to test airport function and compatibility in anticipation of Qantas' A380 passenger service at LAX, which is scheduled to begin in 2008. The aircraft is scheduled to depart between 7:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20."
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Based on one configuration that I have seen, the A380 carries 555 passengers on two decks. That’s not a plane, it’s a community.
Airbus has gambled that it will fill a market need for long distance, hub-to-hub flights. Boeing, Airbus’s competitor is making the opposite bet, gambling that, because hub airports are not the final destination of most travelers, a smaller long-distance aircraft like its new 787 that can fly passengers directly to their destination will be more successful.
Apparently the metric that really counts in commercial aviation is cost per seat mile. It makes sense, Airbus argues, to build a really big plane that can hold a lot of people because that number comes down. Boeing on the other hand appears focused on revenue, thinking people will pay more to fly to direct.
Regardless, the A380 is a BEAST. It will be cool to see, but don’t expect to fly on one anytime soon unless you’re signing up for a long haul flight to Asia or someplace similar. Oh, and the knock on LAX, when it comes to the A380? Apparently, the terminal is completely ill-equipped to handle the boarding and deplaning of that many people. Given that it recently took me almost 40 minutes to get my bags after a 737 flight from Denver to LAX, the passenger-processing side of the A380 experiment could be a nightmare scenario.
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| Posted by: Ryan_Knoll on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 - 02:28 PM
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