Posted on 12/08/2005 11:03:06 AM PST by Proud_USA_Republican
The board of Qantas Airways has delayed until next Wednesday a decision on what could be the year's biggest jetliner order -- for up to 100 Boeing or Airbus planes worth as much as $16 billion.
Although the board met Wednesday in Sydney, it apparently did not reach any decision.
Geoff Dixon, chief executive of Qantas, said in a news release that the board will hold a special meeting Wednesday to "further consider" its long-term fleet plan.
"This meeting is expected to discuss and approve major aircraft purchases, including the new aircraft for Jetstar's international operations," Dixon said
(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.nwsource.com ...
Airbus is countering with the A340, A350 and more A380s.
Boeing is said to have the edge, but I'm sure Quantas is delaying this trying to play Airbust and Boeing against each other to get the cheapest prices on the planes possible. The Boeing planes are glaringly a superior offering. The A340 a total gashog. The A350 is just a cheap 787 knockoff. The A380 is another gashog that has come in massively overweight.
It's going to be a major blow to Airbust if they don't get the majority of this order. Boeing is getting close to 1000 plane orders for the year.
Rest of the article is available at the link.
Well, remembering that line from "Rainman", Qantas has never had an accident. They might ruin that record if they go with the Airbus.
Must be.
Rule of thumb is, for similarly configured aircraft (the A380 is similar in plan view to a 747), the lift ability goes up proportionally to the square of the wingspans, the weight goes up proportionally to the cube of the wingspans.
Getting that giant A380 to fly profitably is going to be a daunting task.
But considering they added a second deck, haven't they in essence increased the passenger capacity by the cube of the wingspan as well?
They have been scrambling to find ways to reduce the weight which is what this whole "6 months delay because they found a glitch in the sound system" schtick is all about. 6 months to fix a glitch in the sound system? Puhleaze.....
They have suggested weight reducing measures such as using composite materials for the seats and more of the interior parts. But that would increase the costs of the planes greatly, and the airlines would want Airbust to pay for that since the original contracts they signed stated the weight of the plane was going to be less by several tons than what the A380 came in at once it was built.
That's what I mean. It all comes down to heavier wing loading.
I just can't imagine that there is much of a market for a plane that carries 800 people. There doesn't seem to be any economy of scale if the thing is such a gas hog.
You could fill them up transporting pilgrims to Mecca during Haj. I don't know what you would do with them the reat of the year.
You could park them in a desert and use them for "training"
It only "fits" in a market where a lot of people in one place want to pay money to be in another place.
The only market that I've seen that might have justified an A380 is Tokyo-Honolulu. During the '80s, Honolulu had a bazillion Japanese tourists every day.
JAL and Nippon love the 747 for their long haul flights to places like Hawaii. The 747 is the pride of their fleets.
The japanese airlines have always had a very strong relationship with Boeing. Drives Airbust crazy they haven't been able to crack the Japanese market.
The new 747-8 is going to keep the A380 out of japanese airlines for many years to come.
Airbus was gambling more airlines would buy into the idea, but in the end, they gambled wrong. The only ones who appear interested in these planes are huge population center countries in the middle east and asia where you want to cram in as many 3rd worlders as possible to go to a major hub somewhere. On-board casinos, shopping malls, and bowling alleys were pie in the sky bragging by Airbust. No airlines were going to outfit those on their A380s.
Its a plane that ended up having a very narrow scope of use and profitability. Pack 800 3rd worlders in as tightly as possible and fly them to a major hub. Thats it.
Most of the orders for A380's have been "political" orders by state run airlines like Qutar or Emirates who don't care right now if they take a loss on the flights.
Qantas has never had a fatal accident involving a jet aircraft. It has had a few relatively minor accidents, including one that left nine people injured (actually they were injured evacuating the aircraft).
Prior to the jet age, Qantas had a number of fatal accidents - the last was in 1951.
It's a very safe airline - but it's not quite as good as popular legend indicates.
Qantas once managed to carry 673 people on a 747 flight. You can really cram a lot of people in if you want to. I just wonder how many you could really get into a plane designed for 800 people, if you had to.
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