Maybe we should give her this one.
Reporters Find Plenty of Room on Airbus A380
By MARK LANDLER
Published: February 8, 2007
TOULOUSE, France, Feb. 7 — John J. Leahy, the master salesman of Airbus, was reeling off trivia as the A380 roared down a rain-swept runway here, carrying 200 journalists on the first flight for the news media of this double-deck jet, the world’s largest passenger aircraft.
“Did you know you could fit 35 million Ping-Pong balls in an A380?” Mr. Leahy asked his seatmate on the plane’s capacious upper deck. “Or that it weighs as much as 500 Volkswagen Golfs?”
Once the A380 was aloft, cruising above the snow-capped Pyrenees, the flight felt more like a ride in a bus or the family van with 200 unruly children in the back. But it also showed off the charms of a 519-seat airplane. Even with all the journalists and their gear, there were scores of empty seats.
Not to belabor the point, but this thing is big.
With a 239-foot-long fuselage (the length of eight London double-decker buses), a 262-foot wingspan (enough room to park 70 cars) and an engine thrust at takeoff equivalent to 2,500 cars, the A380 is longer, taller, wider and 118 tons heavier than the reigning heavyweight, Boeing’s 747.
The A380 is so big that it comes equipped with exterior cameras that feed video to the cockpit so that the pilots can avoid clipping unsuspecting planes as they squeeze into tight gates.
To say European plane maker has a lot riding on the A380 doesn’t begin to cover it. The lavishly orchestrated flight was an effort to put the attention back on the plane rather than the A380 program, which has become a $6 billion millstone around the neck of Airbus.
“It’s nice to see people enjoying the plane,” said Mr. Leahy, who has spent the last year mollifying angry customers because of repeated delays in deliveries of the A380. “The real moment for me will come when we deliver the first plane to Singapore Airlines in October.”
The A380 got a desperately needed lift in December, when Singapore and Qantas of Australia agreed to buy 17 additional planes — the first firm orders for it in more than a year. But production woes have cost it one major customer: FedEx canceled an order for 10 jets.
Perhaps most troubling, Lufthansa of Germany placed a $5.5 billion order for 20 Boeing 747-8’s, a retooled version of the 37-year-old jumbo jet that the A380 was once expected to put into mothballs.
This day, though, was for savoring the gee-whiz aspects of the A380 rather than its murky business prospects.
The novelty began at the gate, which offered upper- and lower-deck access to the plane. Emirates, the largest customer for the A380, plans to put premium and economy-class seats on separate decks — like on a cruise ship — allowing it to board people directly from their V.I.P. lounges.
The main staircase linking the decks is so grand that one could almost picture the actress Kate Winslet descending it in an evening gown on her way to dinner, as she once did in that film about a very big ship.
Enough about size: how are the seats?
Pretty much like those on any other wide-body plane. But Airbus was quick to claim an edge: the A380’s economy-class seat is 18 inches wide, an inch wider than that on a typical 747, even with the same number of seats across. That is possible because the main deck is 20 inches wider than that of a 747.
Seating design, however, is up to the airlines, which means that the plane used for this flight offered only a theoretical example of the likely flying experience on an A380. That may explain why there were two cocktail bars, at which people were able to graze on Champagne and canapés.
“It’s more like working in a lounge than on an airplane,” said Daniela Indrizzi, a flight attendant for Lufthansa, who was on loan to Airbus Wednesday to refill glasses and hand out savories.
When Airbus first announced the A380 in 2000, it conjured up images of duty-free shops, casinos and on-board showers. Mr. Leahy said one undisclosed carrier had ordered a shower for its first-class cabin. But the more fanciful ideas seem destined to fall victim to airline economics.
Packed full of seats, the A380 can seat up 840 people. Airbus used this plane for evacuation drills last year, and it said all 840 were able to pile out in 78 seconds, with only a few broken bones. It isn’t clear what would happen if they needed to use the restroom simultaneously.
Speaking of toilets, there were 15 on this A380 including one in the first-class cabin that has a window above the commode. Except for the view, its cramped confines didn’t invite loitering.
There were other reassuringly familiar touches in the A380. The overhead bins were not roomy enough. The laminated safety cards are designed to ensure they are read only by children. One mystery, on a flight buffeted by gusty wind: there were no airsick bags in the seat pockets.
The pilot, Peter Chandler, seemed to welcome the weather as a chance to show off his machine. Terry Lutz, an Airbus test pilot roaming the aisles, attested that the A380 is “extraordinary when you bank it.”
Airbus has promoted the A380 as a quiet plane, and indeed, the four Rolls-Royce engines purred. Reclining on the lie-flat seats in first class, it was easy to imagine snoozing all the way to Hong Kong. For passengers with young children, the long aisles are perfect for enervating walks.
Critics say that whatever its technical marvels, the A380 would likely be only a niche product in an industry increasingly dominated by medium-size, fuel-efficient planes, like Boeing’s new Dreamliner.
“Come see the future, as it once was,” said Richard L. Aboulafia, an aircraft analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va. He predicted that Airbus would sell 300 planes, while the company says it expects orders for more than 800.
Airbus said it was recovering from wiring glitches that shut down its production line last year. But losses — because of penalties for late deliveries and a costly overhaul — are expected to slice more than $6 billion from the profits of its parent, the European Aerospace Defense and Space Company, over four years.
That has aggravated the political tensions that swirl around Airbus. French and German officials are worried about sweeping layoffs at Airbus plants. Workers in Germany have threatened to delay deliveries of planes, following reports that up to 8,000 people could lose their jobs.
Pressed on all this, Mario Heinen, the chief of the A380 program, said, “Let’s just enjoy this beautiful aircraft.” |
