Posted on 07/11/2011 5:48:50 PM PDT by AfricanChristian
ATLANTA (TheStreet) -- Three U.S. carriers are also the world's three biggest airlines -- United(UAL_), Delta(DAL_) and American(AMR_) -- but little indication exists that any of them have any particular desire to fly the world's biggest passenger airplane.
Four years after the introduction of the Airbus A380, which can carry up to 600 passengers, 49 aircraft are flying for six international airlines, and orders have been placed by a total of 18 airlines.
None are based in the U.S.
Moreover, no U.S. carrier seems close to purchasing the A380, although Airbus spokesman Clay McConnell said that "eventually you will see some U.S. airlines order it."
(Excerpt) Read more at thestreet.com ...
From what I’ve seen, US terminal gates aren’t designed to handle boarding 600 people.
If it ain’t Boeing, I’m not going
Airbus seems to have had far more software related issues & crashes than Boeing.
I flew a Singapore airlines S380 London to Singapore about 2 years ago. Very nice aircraft, excellent on board service & beautiful airport (Singapore). I did not notice any appreciable difference in boarding/deplaning times or hassle in comparison to B747, 777, etc.
That sounds scientific.
You said it, it will be worse than Tenerife when one of those things goes down.
Back in the 70’s I flew a 747 to England, and a 707 back, I recall watching a 747 pass us on the way back, but the main thing I remember is that my feet got cold because the outside temperature penetrated to the cabin. There was a stream of hot air blowing on my head, and I was wishing I could reverse my position and put my feet up in the warm air.
Another time, I flew a 707 on business into Newark on a blustery day. We did a big, low, slow banking turn on the approach with the wings flapping like a bird and the engines nodding and weaving drunkenly. Quite a sight. Some guy near me was yapping up a storm of business talk with his seatmate, pretending not to notice. Suddenly he fell silent for a second, then exclaimed, “This tub’s gonna have trouble making it in!”
I will admit a certain fondness for the thing, though.
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