Biggest airliner can't gate at biggest airport [airline dispute]

news4jax.com ^ | 06/02/2016 | cnn

[BenLurkin]

Here at the world's busiest airport -- with seven concourses and more than 200 gates -- a gate for the Super Jumbo Airbus A380 could not be provided. That forced Qatar Airways passengers to deplane Wednesday via mobile stairs and shuttle buses.

Atlanta's airport has only one gate that can accommodate the A380 -- the world's largest airliner. The airport and resident hub carrier Delta Air Lines said they could not make that gate available.

The very public battle between Delta Air Lines, the world's second largest airline, and competitor Qatar Airways represents a microcosm of the national debate over whether the amount of alleged government subsidies foreign airlines receive violates international Open Skies agreements.

[Paleo Conservative]

I’m talking about the initial boarding.

The initial boarding for my Lufthansa flight from IAH started around the time I got to the gate which was about 45 to 50 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time.

Bottom line, they need to have separate boarding and security for this plane...otherwise I think it be unfair to these passengers. It’s definitely a special plane.

I'm sure ATL has similar security screening to IAH. There is a checkpoint prior to being able to get to any of the gates. It really doesn't matter which flight you're going on or which aircraft is being used. There is such a high volume of people needing to be screened that there is no need for a special line for an A380.

Yes the A380 is "special." It is a code F and requires extra separation between flights due to the amount of turbulence it can produce which can be dangerous to other planes. It has a wingspan of 79 meters which means it just barely can fit in an 80 meter by 80 meter box. This is why it can't fit at any of the other gates at ATL.

The gate Korean Airlines uses is at the end of a terminal pier and uses up the three narrow bodied gate spaces that each have their own jet bridges. Only one of the jet bridges is used to board the plane just on its lower level. A proper A380 gate will have dual jet bridges, one for the upper deck (normally business, first, and possibly premium economy) and another for the lower deck (normally economy). The reason Korean Airlines gets to use up all those gates is they use them during a lull in flight activity at ATL. The do need all the seating of three narrow bodied gates anyway even if they don't use all three of the jet bridges.

[nikos1121]

Wait a minute. You got to the gate 45 minute before the plane was to take off. How long did it take for the 500 plus people to deplane?

There is a need for planes like this. It’s a remarkable achievement. I was upset when the politicians caved to the supersonic flights. We’ve been in a stone age ever since.

I suppose if you want to round up 500 people from Atlanta and fly them to Vegas...but personally, I can’t see it. I like the Boeing Dreamliner.

[Mr. Jeeves]

They say you have to show up like 3 to 4 hours before boarding these things. Stupid.

Nah, I've flown on A380's twice. They start boarding 45 minutes before takeoff, and it goes pretty quick - probably because they aren't operated by US airlines. :)

[Paleo Conservative]

Wait a minute. You got to the gate 45 minute before the plane was to take off. How long did it take for the 500 plus people to deplane?

It's scheduled to arrive at 1350 (1:50pm)and depart at (1555 (3:55pm). That means they deplane all the passengers, unload all the baggage and cargo, clean the aircraft, load catering, load baggage and cargo, and board passengers all in 2 hours 5 minutes! One of the reasons airlines like flying from western Europe to IAH is that they can fly a round trip in just under 24 hours. It makes for very efficient utilization of aircraft. Braniff pioneered Texas to western Europe nonstop operations in the late 1970s. They were able to keep one aircraft on each route averaging 20-21 hours of flying in 24 hours.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I remember all the fawning reports of how the A380 would soon eclipse the 747 and become the new queen of the skies. Yeah, right. There’s still very few airports that can take A380s, most of them don’t want to perform millions of dollars to “upgrade” to the A380 when cost-benefit analysis shows that they’ll never recoup that money.

It’s funny that the Airbus website brags about the 50 airports that can take the A380. 210 airports can take 747. The 777 and 787 blow all those numbers away.

The fact is, airline passengers prefer direct flights on smaller planes. Boeing smartly announced that they were getting into the super-jumbo business, let Airbus progress in that direction, then went ahead with the 787. The A380 gets adoring press but nobody wants it.