Superjumbo Airbus test flight in 2 days

Financial Express ^

[wk4bush2004]

APRIL 25: Airbus SAS, the world’s largest planemaker, on April 27 will conduct the first test flight of the double-decker A380, which will top Boeing Co’s 747 as the biggest passenger plane when the aircraft enters service in 2006.

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Airbus expects airlines will order enough of the 555-seater to secure its lead over Chicago-based Boeing, whose newest plane will be the 787. The European planemaker has 144 firm orders for the A380. Airbus has forecast global demand for 1,250 A380-sized passenger planes. Boeing believes airlines only need 270 aircraft of the A380’s capacity and a similar number with 450 seats.

“This is first and foremost a technical test, even if it is also a bit of a show,” said Barbara Kracht, an Airbus spokeswoman, in a telephone interview. Boeing has no plans to build a plane as large as the A380, since it believes the market is too small, Randy Baseler, Boeing’s head of airliner marketing, said on March 2.

Airbus’s A380 customers include Singapore Airlines Ltd., Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Emirates, Air France-KLM Group, Virgin Atlantic Air ways, Korean Air Co and China Southern Airlines Co.

In March, when Airbus parent European Aeronautic, Defense & Space Co announced results, co-chief executive Philippe Camus said the breakeven point was at more than 300 planes delivered, up from 250 targeted previously, should the exchange rate stay around $1.30 per euro for the life of the program. Airbus is 80% owned by EADS, which is based in Paris and Munich, and 20% by BAE Systems Plc of the UK.

[Lokibob]

I was thinking about security screening 550 passengers. You would need 4 hours ot screen them and load them.

Note also that it is going to the oriental airlines, where the average weight and size of the person is smaler.

[Larry Lucido]

That's what it's all about. Those 11 words. They have 12 Billion into this project, just so they can say those 11 words. That's over a Billion Dollars a word.

Yea, but if the words get repeated a billion times, they can get it down to a dollar a word.

[AmishDude]

I was thinking "spruce goose" too. I think it'll get off the ground, though.

[gridlock]

Yea, but if the words get repeated a billion times...

Well, we all know our MSM will be doing their best on that front. They just love to say America is second best to the French.

[July 4th]

State aid for the A350 may not mean a damn bit of difference. The 787 has had some serious success over the past month, and it may be enough that - even with state aid - it just makes no sense for a competitor. The Air Canada order today was HUGE.

Airbus now needs to build a plane like the 787 that takes advantage of ALL of the benefits from composites. The A350 was only a half-measure. They need to get back to the drawing board on this, because the 777 and 787 will start to eat away market share pretty fast.

[Ditter]

Yes, this thing scares me too. This is one of the reasons I don't travel more.

[Larry Lucido]

And we won't even mention the tail.

Every A380 comes equipped with an extra tail, seen in this photo being loaded into the fusilage.

[southernnorthcarolina]

The view from inside the A380...

[Paleo Conservative]

Their whole case for the A380 has been based on comparing the per seat costs of the A380 versus the 747-400. Well, the 747-400 has been around since 1989. It's 16 years old. Airbus has been able to freeze out interest in a heavy workover of the 747 that would have required a whole new wing, but the fact that Boeing has lots of 787 and 777 technology that can be transferred to the 747 means they can still update the 747 and beat the A380's cost per available seat mile while also having a longer range plane. Even in markets where there is more demand than can be filled by one 747, many airlines are using two or more 777s to allow more flexibility in departure times. The big users of the 747 Advanced will be freight operators who want to haul 130+ tons nonstop from the US to Asia, and passenger airlines that have long distance routes that aren't possible even with ETOPS 207 or ETOPS 240, eg. SYD-AKL-IAH.

[BobL]

"Wouldn't you just love to wait for your luggage from a full 555 seat flight?"

...how about customs?

[BobL]

"Wouldn't you just love to wait for your luggage from a full 555 seat flight?"

...how about customs?

[BobL]

" Every A380 comes equipped with an extra tail, seen in this photo being loaded into the fusilage."

Incredible Redundancy - you've got to hand it to them.

(yes, I know it's a delivery in the Super Guppy)

[TalBlack]

Just because you can build it ....does not mean that you should.



Exactly! We could've built the SST but we didn't and we turned out to be right.

[Pukin Dog]

I've got a bad feeling about this flight. AirBus does not have the composite materials technology that we have, and that is one heavy sucker. I have this recurring daydream of the thing losing a wing at the root at V2. I hope I am wrong.

[Godzilla]

Well, if it is anything like the test cruise of their nuclear carrier, I won't be surprised to hear the engines fell off shortly after takeoff. And we won't even mention the tail.

Don't forget their 'new' airport terminal (now in concrete dust).