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Inside Pics of the new A380 SuperJumbo

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Nice pics but why don't they show you the cattle car section? I think the center row is 8 16 inch wide seats. The outside rows are 3 or 4 seats crammed together.
 
LearLove: You hit something there. Will be interesting to see the "cattle section". If it is any worse than the way people travel now, they will have to make the tickets so cheap to get people on there.
Passengers are already to fly on a plane so big, and if they know they will be packed in there worse than now, they won't go unless you hit them hard in the pocket as we all know you can treat a passenger as bad as you want and as long as you have the cheapest ticket, they come back.
You guys mentioned farts the other day, try sitting back in economy with all those "sleepers" and try breathing then. :eek:
 
i would take those photos with a grain of salt. correct me if i am mistaken, but aren't those photos just from their "mock up" cabin that they made, and not from the real thing? i got a strange feeling that i have seen those pics before, years ago. not only that, but the one (i'm assuming there's only one) A380 that exists as a whole airplane right now will be used for all of their certification tests. do you think that they would deck it out to the gills like that, with a completed interior, just for a cert aircraft? i dont' know much about this round of tests, but i doubt it. take anything you get from matt drudge carefully. he's a sensationalist, and doesn't always have the truth down.

also, how many gallons/pounds of paint do you think that it took to make it so shiny and white? :D
 
Yeah, the cattle car is how the real plane will be. Thats just the concept mockup made to attract all the buyers and say wow we could be luxury. The only airline that may ever look like that will be if R. Branson buys some for the long hauls.....If UAL ever put one on line it would be CRJ style seating with like 20 accross configuration. Although the plane is massive and kind of a cool idea just think of the boarding and deplaning times if they are in the 800+ configuration.

Anyone know if it was molded off the 747 standards for airports or are they going to have to reinvent the taxiway/jetway?

Id be curious to see what kind of issues it may posses. Im sure most of them were figured out in the planning stages however.
 
Anyone know if it was molded off the 747 standards for airports or are they going to have to reinvent the taxiway/jetway?

It is not going to meet criteria for the 747. The wingspan is about 50 feet longer while the length is just over 7 feet longer. A new airport fire fighting rating of 10 has been added to meet the safety requirments in the event of a crash. Airports all over the world are re-doing taxiways, runways, and terminals in order to accomodate the aircraft. One of the big reasons that Virgin delayed their order was because LAX will not be ready in a timely manner. Double decker boarding bridges will be necessary for reasonable boarding times.

The configuration I have seen is for 22 First, 96 Business, and 437 Economy seats. I'm sure airlines will vary that considerably, but as of right now the majority of orders are with airlines that have at least two class service so the all Economy layout won't be seen right away. I'm sure it will in time though. Our present two class 777-300 has 434 seats and their are carriers flying 747s with over 500 seats so we're only talking a couple hundred more seats in a two class layout. That won't make boarding too much longer if the infrastructure is in place before the airlines start receiving them.

All the same arguments that were made 35 to 40 years ago against the 747 are coming out again. Airports aren't big enough, too many people in one plane, boarding times too long, etc, etc, ad nauseum. It is a bold move by Airbus, just as the 747 was a bold move by Boeing. I think Airbus is right. You guys don't see it in the States too much, but there are plenty of places that will support the requirement for 550 plus passenger aircraft. Europe's airports have very little room for growth and are within a decade of complete saturation with present size aircraft. Airspace is becoming more saturated by the day. The only answer is for bigger aircraft. The only thing I wish was different is that Boeing had been bold enough ( again ) to make an airplane bigger than the 747.


Typhoonpilot
 
I'm almost 99% positive that those photos are from the mockup version of the cabin created by Airbus to sell its products. For any of you who watched that A380 special they did on Discovery Wings a couple three months ago will remember seeing it there.

There's no way that plane can be profitable without creating cattle car sections. An Airbus rep even made mention on that special that those interiors were mainly for show so they could show "the potential" of what could be done with the Airbus.
 
ya know, when the 747 came out it had bars, pianos, and a disco up front, but then the airlines realized that they could put seats there and make more money.
 
When is the Boeing 747 stretch double decker going to be released?
 
As far as I know, the real airplane hasn't even flown yet, has it?


It's funny to hear the naysayers pile on to one another. Like Typhoon said, it was designed to be in the 600 pax class roughly, but yet you guys keep bumping this number to 800 and 1000 etc. And why does everyone think that the seat pitch will be any worse than is normal now? All of a sudden, people claim that just because it is so big, ticket prices will have to be very low because people will be crammed in there on top of each other. Where does all this come from? Come on guys, let's keep it real.

With that said, I don't think ANYONE will be able to put the airplane into service configured the way it is in the pics. There is way too much unrented space. They may have a snack bar or something similar to what they have on trains today, but they will be very compact I would think.
 
The most comfortable long haul flight I've ever had was on Virgin up front in a 747. Got some free upgrade because my company bought a full fare "cattle plus" ticket for me.. the in-flight massage was great, and so was the minature bar.. quite comfortable for passing the time....

So while yes, I agree, those fancy mockups don't represent reality, its likely that long-haul airlines will use some space to entice business travelers (at least I hope so). Singapore Air has their A340-500 with a social/bar area if I remember correctly, and extensive legroom throughout cattle (Their aircraft don't have a regular cattle section, 'economy plus only')... of course the 340-500's are few, far between, and used only on a few really long routes.

I can totally see the justification for an airplane this size.. there is a lot more to aviation outside of the continental US; hopping over the pond, going to SE Asia, China, Japan, between Europe & Asia, etc... when the trip takes 8-14 hours the carrier that provides some extra stuff in business class for a comparable fare will probably win.

Also note that several east asian carriers operate 747s and 777s on short-medium haul flights (1-3 hours) in places like Japan, Korea, Taiwan, HK, etc.... routes that we use RJs for. Apparently they can fill the aircraft so why not?
 
Don't worry about people getting packed in like cattle.

Asians have a different sense of 'personal' space than americans have. After all, have you ever seen the way they pack into trains? They don't think twice about being crammed in a large group--ever see how the population of Japan is packed into their cities?

With the expected growth in aviation in China the 380 should be popular.
 
Who cares?

Who cares what it may be like in the back, I'll just be concerned about the crew accomodations upfront. Oh, I forgot, I fly freight! FedEx mailed a DVD about the proposed A380 buy. Seperate crew sleeping quarters with a desk and internet hookup, @12 first class jumpseats upstairs. Dual flip down huds...very nice for a lowly freightdog....:)

adios
 
sandman2122 said:
FedEx mailed a DVD about the proposed A380 buy. Seperate crew sleeping quarters with a desk and internet hookup, @12 first class jumpseats upstairs. Dual flip down huds...very nice for a lowly freightdog....:)


Hmmmm... maybe I'll watch that DVD after all. I hope the water stains haven't ruined it already. (It was my newest coaster!) :)




.
 
Well the actual aircraft is rolled out today, if you are interested they are webcasting it live on thier website.

Looks like Singapore, Emirates, Quantas, Malaysia, Air France, ILFC, Etihad, Lufthansa, Korean, Virgin, FedEx (10 A/C), Thai, Qatar, UPS (10 A/C) have all made commitments to buy various numbers of the A/C.
 
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anjinoo7 said:
Well the actual aircraft is rolled out today, if you are interested they are webcasting it live on thier website.

That would be cool to watch - - happen to know the link?
 
anjinoo7 said:
Well the actual aircraft is rolled out today, if you are interested they are webcasting it live on thier website.

Looks like Singapore, Emirates, Quantas, Malaysia, Air France, ILFC, Etihad, Lufthansa, Korean, Virgin, FedEx (10 A/C), Thai, Qatar, UPS (10 A/C) have all made commitments to buy various numbers of the A/C.

Passenger Airlines By Region

Southeast Asia - 3
Middle East - 3
Europe - 3
Korea - 1
Australia - 1
Japan - 0
North America - 0
South America - 0
Africa - 0
China - 0
 
GravityHater said:
Is the public going to scream if we start losing 1000 people a pop during crashes?

The news media is surely ramping up and getting ready with some new dazzling descriptions to fit.
 
A new airport fire fighting rating of 10 has been added to meet the safety requirments in the event of a crash.

What the hell is a 10????

I only know of ARFF ratings A, B, C, D and E. They don't use a number system.

§ 139.315 Aircraft rescue and firefighting: Index determination.

(a) An index is required by paragraph (c) of this section for each certificate holder. The Index is determined by a combination of—

(1) The length of air carrier aircraft and

(2) Average daily departures of air carrier aircraft.

(b) For the purpose of Index determination, air carrier aircraft lengths are grouped as follows:

(1) Index A includes aircraft less than 90 feet in length.

(2) Index B includes aircraft at least 90 feet but less than 126 feet in length.

(3) Index C includes aircraft at least 126 feet but less than 159 feet in length.

(4) Index D includes aircraft at least 159 feet but less than 200 feet in length.

(5) Index E includes aircraft at least 200 feet in length.

(c) Except as provided in §139.319(c), if there are five or more average daily departures of air carrier aircraft in a single Index group serving that airport, the longest aircraft with an average of five or more daily departures determines the Index required for the airport. When there are fewer than five average daily departures of the longest air carrier aircraft serving the airport, the Index required for the airport will be the next lower Index group than the Index group prescribed for the longest aircraft.

(d) The minimum designated index shall be Index A.

(e) A holder of a Class III Airport Operating Certificate may comply with this section by providing a level of safety comparable to Index A that is approved by the Administrator. Such alternate compliance must be described in the ACM and must include:

(1) Pre-arranged firefighting and emergency medical response procedures, including agreements with responding services.

(2) Means for alerting firefighting and emergency medical response personnel.

(3) Type of rescue and firefighting equipment to be provided.

(4) Training of responding firefighting and emergency medical personnel on airport familiarization and communications.
 
Nice plane, but is it practical? Doubtful.
How many american carriers bought one? Fed-ex and UPS, but I haven't heard of anyone else.
 

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