BA Orders A380s

highlydebased

BA has ordered 12 new A380's as part of its long haul fleet renewal. Good day for Airbus and BA. Will now be pretty easy to get a flight on an A380 if you live in Ireland....only have to go to London!

http://www.airbus.com/en/presscentre/pressreleases/pressreleases_items/07_09_27_british_airways_12_a380.html

Foggy43

It is a decision that has surprised everyone. The pilots reckon they will be used to reduce daily flights to some destinations. Mainly USA routes.

Singapore Airlines are due to start flying them in to LHR in a few weeks time. There are only 4 stands capable of taking the A380 at LHR presently. All in Terminal 3. The building goes on. I have seen all the plans for Terminal 5. No plans for the A380 but you never know Terminal 6 will probably be built and opened to coincide with the arrival of BA's A380.
I think Virgin have cancelled their order.

I cannot see the A380 being a sucess. Just to get the A380 in to LHR last May the taxiways had to be widened. Only the major airports around the world can afford this. What is the point buying them when you cannot fly them where you want. Will SNN be able to cope with an emergency? Would the A380, full, be able to take off from runway 06?

highlydebased

Well it has visited Shannon. No problem with Runway, its the terminal. No stands capable of docking etc.

Foggy43

I wouldn't expect any problems with Runway 24 but for a full length 06 there is that 180 degree turn that could be a bit too tight.

I do not expect to see the A380 in BA livery for another 5 years.

Manic Moran

Foggy43 wrote:

I cannot see the A380 being a sucess. Just to get the A380 in to LHR last May the taxiways had to be widened. Only the major airports around the world can afford this. What is the point buying them when you cannot fly them where you want. Will SNN be able to cope with an emergency? Would the A380, full, be able to take off from runway 06?

It's the whole Dreamliner vs 380 rationale argument. Airbus is betting on the hub/spoke system, whereby regional aircraft, maybe 737 and smaller would feed central hubs for long-haul travel. In this case, the A380 only needs to worry about Cat X airports. Boeing's putting the money on a more decentralised future, with routes flying from everywhere to everywhere else, with less need for transfers at a hub. Probably the A380 also would have a purpose on some of the super-high-capacity routes, such as the short-hauls which are done by 747s in Japan.

NTM

ch252

[QUOTE=Foggy43 Will SNN be able to cope with an emergency? Would the A380, full, be able to take off from runway 06?[/QUOTE]
I reckon it would, I mean einn is an alternate airport for the american space shuttle

dogmatix

Did not BA also order a batch of 787's at the same time as the 380 order? spreading the moolah between the two big boys it seems.

highlydebased

Yup they sure did

Foggy43

Yes!

They ordered 12 Airbus A380 aircraft and 24 Boeing 787 aircraft with options for a further seven Airbus A380s and 18 Boeing 787s.

Also!

British Airways continues to consider which aircraft to replace its remaining B747-400s with and is examining the B787-10, B777-300 ER and A350XWB.

BA have purchased the A380's at a seriously reduced price with Airbus providing all engine maintenance for free. Airbus are desperate! I said Virgin cancelled their order. Not true, they have deferred the order for 4 years. Airbus must sell 420 aircraft to break even, a figure released last October by EADS. With the strength of the € now it maybe a lot more. Last October they EADS confirmed they only had 160 on order.

mirage37

how about in-flight emergencies? if you can only take off from one runway, that could also lead to problems. Or, in-flight, it may force a crash landing if it can't fit on any nearby airport's runways (or if no nearby highways are wide enough)

Davidth88

Guys

Does the 380 really take that much more runway than say a fully laden B747-400, I would doubt it. ( I am open to correction )

My guess is that most of the work needed at airports would be for terminals, and taxiways.

If you think the queues are bad enough at check in now for an A330 to Chicago , just think if it was nearly twice as many people !

Sponge Bob

emmm Listen Up

In an EMERGENCY the A380 needs to LAND at Shannon ( it can dump fuel over the atlantic).

When it takes off again it need only fuel up to get to Heathrow or Schiphol and therefore back 'in position' .

Davidth88

Sponge Bob

That was exactly what I would have thought.

Anyway , one of them ( all be I imagine lightly loaded ) has been in/out of Filton whose runway is quite a bit shorter than Shannon.

I was looking at the Singapore Airways site, my god , flying first class will be something else , they have suites with a full seat PLUS a bed, or a double bed ... and 23in flatscreen

Interestingly , ans somewhat predictibly the seat pitch is 32 ( same as most current l/h ) in in econ...... although the seats look ' thinner ' which may increase legroom , this may be an optical illusn of course.

Sponge Bob

Davidth88 wrote: »

Anyway,one of them ( all be I imagine lightly loaded ) has been in/out of Filton whose runway is quite a bit shorter than Shannon.

Well the AN-225 with at least a heavy fuel load has been in and out of Shannon . Didn't I see it myself parked out on the field and wonder WTF it was

The AN-124 is bigger than the A380 weight wise , loaded, and has taken off from Shannon where 4 of them are based .