Posted on 02/19/2019 4:46:57 AM PST by JudgemAll
Out of Time
Airbus CEO Tom Enders expressed regrets over the timing of the A380 program, saying, “There has been speculation that we were 10 years too early; I think it is clear that we were 10 years too late.”
But it was closer to four decades too late, or perhaps three decades too soon. There was not enough demand for an aircraft that size by the time the A380 rolled out in 2005, as proven by the aircraft's inability to attract sizeable orders in its brief lifetime. The 747 has lasted five decades and still maintains a sizable share of the very large aircraft market with over 1,500 units built since 1969, more than 500 still flying, and more orders left on the books when you count the freighter version (and you should).
The Airbus A380 netted 313 units sold as of January of this year and had delivered 234. Worse, ten-year-old aircraft leaving service have found no after-market demand and been scrapped for spares.
The end of the jumbo era
The Airbus A380 and Boeing 747 share a common drawback: their size. Smaller aircraft are more appealing to airlines for their operational efficiencies.
But the 747 is still leaner than the A380, and offers more flexible operations with more airports around the world designed to support the aircraft. The 747 was designed to outlast its usefulness for passenger services, from the beginning. It was always imagined as a freighter and has ample room to carry cargo in the hold, even on the passenger version.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Add that Trump threatening China with sanctions allegedly provoked them to stop buying A380s, the program completely sunk.
Boeing should be happy about Trump, as well as many other ingrate industrialists who mocked his brand, America, that is.
My impression is that the A380 was an impressively big plane (not that attractive, like a big flying beluga) but just too costly to operate and maintain.
747? Just a gorgeous airship.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/tech/2019/02/18/boeing-777x-airbus-a380/
Maybe a more salient article.
The A380 is a really comfortable plane to fly in as a passenger. At least on the Signapore Airlines and BA versions I’ve been on.
It is big though and a pain to board and deplane.
That airlined was not designed to have a large nose opening for cargo ops like the 747.That glaring design flaw completely put it out the race for Fed Ex types.
...
Actually, the upper deck is what keeps the A380 from being a desirable freighter.
I’ll bet it rides like a big cushy car...:)
I was impressed with the size of it, but the engineering to me always seemed as if they forced it together.
My impression is that the A380 was an impressively big plane (not that attractive, like a big flying beluga) but just too costly to operate and maintain.
...
It’s efficient enough to be competitive.
The problem is airlines and passengers prefer point to point routes rather than going through a hub. The A380 is strictly meant to fly from one hub to another.
Airlines will give up capacity if they can get the range. Even 787’s have replaced 747’s on some routes.
The 777x has more range than the A380 according to the article and it’s still pretty good on capacity. The 777x is probably the last straw that broke the A380.
Airbus was a conglomeration of government sponsored companies(European) to compete with Boeing. Could not compete w/o taxpayer sponsorship. Just desserts.
I loved the story about how Juan Trippe was insistent that they deliver a double deck airliner, and the more Joe Sutter and his team thought about it, they thought it would be a failure if they made it that way. They had a big meeting to convince him, and when the Boeing team went to New York to meet with Juan Trippe, they found out how wide the conference room was and one of their savvy guys brought a length of string with him.
When Trippe began to stubbornly insist that a single deck wouldn't have the room they needed for the number of passengers and they would have to be packed in, the guy brought out the string and stretched it across the room and demonstrated how wide it would be with one deck, and Trippe went along with it.
(I hope I got that right from memory...I read the book some time back!)
I’m an old retired freight dog and came up thru DC-3s,Convair600/640/800’s and finished up in the left seat of a 747 Freighter.
The 747 was a pussy cat I loved that airplane, the only trouble I had in transitioning to it was 1.How high the cockpit was and it was far ahead of the nose wheel it was.
A dream to fly.
That is an even more fundamental question, as you sound read up on it (I have been a subscriber to Aviation Weekly for some time so I have been able to follow it)
There was a gamble about the future of profitable aviation, and Airbus I think hedged their bets with the A380 on that hub concept...and there was much speculation on which one was going to bear out.
I heard that the ground effect made it a very soft landing for such a large plane...even to the point of novice pilot feeling like they had to “push” the plane onto the ground.
I love the 747...the look...that hump, the performance.
It was remarkable seeing that footage on 9/11 of Air Force One taking off and climbing out...for a plane that big, it climbed like a raped ape, or so it seemed from the video.
Nice career.
I also heard someone characterize flying it off a runway as “taking off in a skyscraper”!
A360 vs 747 - The issue is moot seeing that the Green New Deal will outlaw jets and cows!! LOL!!
Both Boeing and Pan Am bet the companies on that airplane.
Maybe as the “new green deal” is implemented they will attach more wheels to these jets and taxi them around the country. I can’t wait!!!
I used to work with a guy who was good at whatever he wanted to do.
At various times he was a government big-wig in the intel business. A charter boat operator in florida. A corporate executive....my company made him a VP, and tasked him with downsizing a major east coast division...when he was done, they layed him off.
He said his favorite “career” was pilot of cargo jets. B-707s out of Baltimore. He said he loved flying at night.
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