Great white bird!!!

[zrath]

Today, I did something I haven't done in a long, long, long time.
I bought a newspaper.
Apparently, an A380 landed at LAX yesterday.
AND NOBODY TOLD ME!!
Ah well...

Behold the world's largest commercial airliner.
Ain't he a beaut?
This one is loaded with test gear and water tanks.
Another A380 landed at JFK in New York, that one staffed and operated by Lufthansa personnel.
Onboard were Airbus employees, Lufthansa frequent flyers and other VIPs.
Word is LAX sucks at handling the A380 and needs to get its shit together if it wants to see regular service.
And Qantas wants LAX to get its shit together because they're getting the A380 and using LAX as a hub.
Virgin Atlantic too. You hear me LAX? Get it together! You're old and outdated! Evolve or die!

Comments

[kvogel.livejournal.com]

I suspect it may go the way of the Concord, dramatic, but too much of a pain to keep going. And/or the first time one of these crashes while in a dense-pack configuration (800+).
There are only a few circumstances where you'd REALLY need something that huge and there may not be enough buisness/number of units to ever recoup any of the developement costs.

[zrath.livejournal.com]

This is nothing like the Concorde, really.
It's a quiet (half the noise of a 747) wideboy double-decker jumbo.
It doesn't have any of the problems of the Concorde (small cabin, afterburning military engines, insane fuel consumption, monstrous noise levels).
The Pacific Rim airlines have been clamoring for something like this for years because they move truly astounding, ever-increasing numbers of passengers.
I was subscribed to Aviation Week for 3 years, and I swear that every other issue had an article about the record number of passengers flown by Pacific Rim airlines.
And said airlines clamoring for larger planes. Companies like Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways, and even Qantas!
They were all first in line to place orders for the A380.
Lufthansa, Virgin, Air France (natch) and several Middle Eastern airlines are also getting them.
Emirates is getting 43, which is pretty mindboggling.
Total orders right now stand at 166 planes.
These are passenger versions only. Nobody's ordering the freight version because of production delays. UPS and FedEx dropped their orders.
I bet you that they will eventually get some of those suckers!

This isn't the Hughes "Spruce Goose" Hercules here!
It's not a plane that makes sense for the US, but the rest of the world seems to want it.

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

I'll lay you odds FedEx and UPS will stick to Bowing. The 747 designs are much more accomodating than the A380 simply because so few airports can handle the things.

I've ridden Boeing, McDonald Douglas, Lockheed and Airbus passenger planes. Only the Airbus felt like a hinky-shit Cessna with delusious of grandeur. I'd rather fly flippin' Aeroflot before doing another Airbusted.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

Well, Asia is the place where we saw the 747 fitted out as a short-haul, almost commuter plane- remember the 747SR and 747-400D. That's also about the only place that was buying the 777-300, really.

The A380 makes the most sense for either insanely dense routes or insanely long ones... Which is why the Asian and Australian carriers are going gaga over 'em. I expect Airbus will eventually make money on the things, but I would expect Boeing will sell more of its 747-8s in the end.

Hmm. I see that Boeing has stopped making the MD-95... er... 717.