Yeah, let's see your Airbus fly without a vertical stab!
Posted on 01/18/2005 7:45:22 AM PST by Happy2BMe
Airbus unveiled the world's biggest passenger jet in a glitzy ceremony in which the leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Spain hailed Europe's victory over the United States as the new king of the commercial skies.
The huge A380 superjumbo, which can carry up to 840 people on its two full decks, supersedes the ageing 747 by US rival Boeing as the biggest civilian aircraft ever made.
When it is put into service early next year, it will become the flagship of many airline fleets and offer unprecedented amenities on long-haul services, including, in some cases, gyms, bedrooms and bars.
For the countries which backed the 10.7-billion-euro (14-billion-dollar) development cost, the plane stood as a prominent symbol of European cooperation.
"Good old Europe has made this possible," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a packed hall in Airbus's headquarters in Toulouse, southwest France.
That was a barely-veiled barb recalling the US dismissal of France, Germany and other EU states in 2003 as "Old Europe" because of their opposition to the war on Iraq.
Noel Forgeard, the French head of Airbus, made similar hints in his presentation of the A380 during a spectacle featuring computer graphics, atmospheric theme music and swirling colours.
"The European states -- so easily accused of weakness -- backed this fantastic challenge 35 years ago and have believed in the A380," he said.
The hubris on display was reinforced by recent figures showing that, for the second year running, Airbus has outsold Boeing and now holds some 57 percent of the world market for passenger aircraft.
The company, a majority owned subsidiary of the listed European Aerospace and Defence Company (with 20 percent in the hands of Britain's BAE Systems), forecasts that the A380 will extend that lead.
Thirteen airlines have already placed firm orders for 139 of the planes. Airbus calculates that by 2008 it will reach the break-even point of 250 A380s sold, and from that point it will turn out 35 of the aircraft per year to rising profits.
The catalogue price of the huge machine -- boasting a wingspan of 80 metres (262 feet), overall length of 73 metres (239 feet), height of 24 metres (79 feet) and maximum take-off weight of 560 tonnes -- is between 263 and 286 million dollars, though discounts are frequently applied.
French President Jacques Chirac called the project a "big success" and said: "We can, and we must, go further on this path of European construction so essential for growth and employment."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the plane was "the culmination of many years of hard work" and congratulated the workers across Europe who made it happen.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Europe was "unstoppable" when it pooled its efforts.
The plane, Zapatero said, "has turned this historic moment into a moment in which cooperation and globalisation are giving rise to more peace and justice."
The four EU leaders later lunched together, leaving industry VIPS to get close to the huge white plane sitting in its hangar.
Airline executives at the presentation were superlative in their praise, even though the A380 has yet to undergo test flights scheduled for March or April.
Richard Branson, the head of Britain's Virgin Atlantic, said his airline would pamper passengers on the six A380s ordered by including gyms, beauty parlours, bars -- and even casinos and double beds.
The last two features meant "you'll have at least two ways to get lucky on our flights," Branson joked.
The biggest buyer of the new plane is the Emirates airline, which has ordered 43. "The A380 will be the future of air travel," its chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, said.
Airbus's success with the A380 is raising hackles at Boeing, which has won relatively little interest in its own new offering, a long-range mid-size plane called the 7E7 Dreamliner.
A bruising dispute over state subsidies between Boeing and Airbus is currently the subject of tense negotiations which, if they fail at the end of a three-month deadline, will blow up into a full-blown arbitration case at the World Trade Organisation.
I wonder how long it's going to take to load, and unload 800 + passengers. In addition, preparing for that many.
You may very well be right, but all the smarmy sniping at Airbus for taking a risk makes Americans look small and weak. Competition is a good thing, and so is risk.
One thing I do not want -- I do *not* want my tax dollars or ticket prices subsidizing Airbus by paying for our airports to expand to support this behemoth. If Airbus wants our airports to accommodate their design, then *they* can pay for the required airport upgrades (the wings on the 777, for instance, fold up on landing so that airports wouldn't have to upgrade). I think Congress makes to make it a law -- this cost *shall not* be paid for in taxes or passed on to passengers. All of my air travel is domestic, so I don't expect to ever be a passenger on this plane (I've never even been on a 747) so I do *not* want my taxes or ticket prices paying to support the A380.
Congress, are you listening?
Imagine another STRIKE during the holidays, and having all those people in the terminal. Ooooooh, the wielding of union power over twice as many victims will unavoidably tempting.
Hmm, all the articles I read said it wasn't compatible. Could have been spin from Boeing. Still, if Boeing's airplane is in fact cheaper and easier to use, they would still have the competitive advantage.
What is the over/under on the first crash?.
I just think this is going to serve a niche market at best, and not be the main plane for most fleets.
I just talked to my father about this topic. According to him, abot 20% of the wing can fold up after landing, since it has a longer wingspan than the 747. That doesn't mean that every airport uses the feature, but according to him it's there.
The last time I saw wings fold on landing it wasn't a pretty sight.
Yeah, let's see your Airbus fly without a vertical stab!
I find it ... odd ... that Boeing's own website, posting what they call "technical specs" of their products, makes no mention of this marvelous feature.
Well, excuse me your lordship, but us peasants need to get around too.
I think the author is smoking crack. Look at the demographics of our country. It isn't the urban areas that are growing. What we need are smaller airplanes, an ATC system not based off of VOR navigation (ie Free Flight), and more regional airports.
And this is a special problem ?
Air travel is going to increase anyway, the effect of strikes, etc. is a wash new plane or no.
What will happen, and is happening, is that union power is falling away with every new airline bankruptcy. This is the long term trend since deregulation.
The place to look is not US demographics, but growing worldwide prosperity and disposable incomes. What sort of plane will you need when the Chinese start vacationing in Australia ?
Its a big world, with a lot of crowded people in it.
White elephant alert.
The important distinction here is that Airbus is not really a private firm, but a government creation.
The owners and ultimate CEO's of the thing, the heads of the respective governments, are rightly, considering their "ownership", taking pride in their property.
Boeing is not a branch of the US government and such gloating by a US president would be inappropriate.
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