The European aviation company Airbus has just unveiled the largest “super jumbo” commercial airliner in the world. The new Airbus A380 seats a whopping 455 passengers, and promises to be an expansive, luxury liner. But does the world really need a commercial plane this big?
Economically, of course, the new A380 makes a lot of sense. With airlines around the world struggling to maintain profit margins, larger “super jumbo” planes save money, while lowering fuel expenses and operating with smaller crews.
The A380 uses a double-decker body design, and true to its name, looks more like a giant double-decker bus with wings attached. In other words, it’s not exactly sleek or pretty. But aesthetic considerations aside, the real question facing the new Airbus is, “is it comfortable to passengers.”
I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember ever thinking, “this flight is OK, but what it really needs is more people on board!” Any time 455 passengers are packed together on a flight, the potential for overcrowding and uncomfortable seating is always present. Furthermore, if you think the meal service is slow on a standard size jumbo plane, can you imagine how cumbersome it could be with 455 passengers on board?
Air Singapore is the first carrier to test out the new Airbus A380, and recently completed the maiden voyage for the new airliner on its established Singapore to Sydney route. First reports indicate that the flight went well and customer satisfaction was in the adequate to good range. However, a few passengers did comment on the amount of time taken to board the plane in Singapore, and disembark in Sydney. But I suppose this is to be expected when carrying so many travelers at once.
The A380 uses twin bridges for boarding passengers, however on the plane’s maiden flight only one of the bridges was operational. Passengers also had to wait a bit longer to receive their off loaded luggage. So-called “premium” passengers received their luggage approximately 30 minutes after landing. Economy and business-class passengers had to wait up to 20 minutes longer before their luggage arrived.
But the new Airbus does offer several luxury amenities to make flying more comfortable. For example, every seat has its own 10.6 inch personal video screen, and most seats also have power plugs for laptops or personal DVD players. The economy class seats are also 19 inches wide — slightly better than average, and the A380 carries a larger crew, which can reduce the waiting time for in-flight services.
After the limited success of its first flight with the A380, Air Singapore is planning to use the new Airbus on its Singapore-London route beginning sometime next spring. The long flight between Singapore and London will be the real test of comfort for the new Airbus “super jumbo.”
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I don’t have the number of carbon emission per person for A380, but I think one of the ideas of a larger plane which carries more people is to reduce the emission/person/mile, a greener choice of travel.
Comment by Grigo — November 14, 2007 @ 2:13 am