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Monday, August 11, 2014

I came Across An A380 Posts Written By An A380 Debbie Downer

I don't spend my day hunting for online stuff of this nature. However sometimes it just falls out of the sky in front of my feet. William Tell Isaac Newton had it correct about apples, objects, and gravity. I am not lazy nor short of words, but sometimes it's just better when others write how I think for the most part. So it's important to relay that message forward as a re-post of a just discovered story that may be of interest to anyone who hasn't drunk the Airbus Kool-Aid! Now its time to give over my blog from another by re-posting of great "Non-Boeing Article."


Why Airbus’ A380 Failed


Bidness Etc investigates the reasons behind the failure of Airbus’ A380, which was once anticipated to break all air-travel normsBy: Sam QuestClick Ticker to See live coverage AIRBUS GROUP (EADSY) hoped to change the face of the global air transport industry with the A-380. The company thought of the new aircraft as a solution to congested tarmacs, which are a result of higher demand for air travel. However, with only 11 airlines having ordered the A380 in initial years, and orders stagnating thereafter, it is evident that the aircraft has not taken off very well in the industry. What The A380 Hoped To Achieve? Airbus predicted that aircraft with greater passenger capacity would eventually dominate the market. The A-380 was deemed ideal for high volume and high traffic routes. 75% of the largest long-haul routes are slot-constrained, meaning the number of flights taking off or landing at a certain airport is restricted; 

hence, greater passenger volumes could be achieved with a larger carrier. British Airways, the national carrier for Britain, is an airline that might implement such a strategy. It plans on replacing the three Boeing 747s flying on the London-Los Angeles route with two A380s. This would decrease traffic at Heathrow Airport by one aircraft.

What Went Wrong?


The A380 is just too big for the industry to handle, having a wingspan that exceeds the length of a football field and taking up an area of 6,000 square feet. Four engines power the massive jet, bringing it to an altitude of 39,000 feet in under 15 minutes. However, the massive engines of the jet consume greater quantities of fuel and increase the overall costs of airlines that have the A380 as a part of their fleet.


Most airports in the world cannot accommodate the A380 owing to its large wingspan. Therefore, it is necessary to gain cooperation from airports to modify their gates in order to make the accommodation of the aircraft possible. For example, the aircraft cannot fly to Brazil as airports there cannot handle the A380.


The limited routes that the A380 can fly on, along with the higher costs attached to the aircraft, have made airlines pessimistic about adding it to their fleet. Only 11 airlines have ordered the A380 so far. Emirates Airlines has been the only one to have based its fleet around the plane, having ordered 140 planes and currently operating 50 of them.

Boeing’s Strategy:


The Boeing Company (BA), the largest competitor for Airbus’ aircraft-manufacturing business, had predicted that traffic would slow down between large hubs in the world and domestic air-traffic would drive growth in the aviation industry. As a result, the company developed the smaller wide-body, fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner family of commercial jets, which was a big success. 

(The newest addition to the lineup, the 787-10, has a capacity of seating 323 passengers, compared to over 500 for the A380.)

Boeing’s prediction about the future of the aviation industry and drivers of growth seems to have hit the bulls-eye, whereas Airbus’ prediction has missed the target by a mile.

Boeing was up 0.66% during trading on Friday, while Airbus closed in the red after falling 0.14%.

Airbus has fallen 26.26% over the year, while Boeing has fallen 11.25%.
  

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