Archives
March 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Peter Greenberg, AOL Contributing Editor
This is one big plane. I could spend this entire column entertaining you with gee whiz figures of how big it is, how wide the wingspan, how many pingpong balls can fit inside, or how many VW beetles could be jammed in, nose to tail.
But that's not important. What IS important: when will this plane fly, and perhaps even more important, will you ever want to fly it?
First, some background. When the giant plane was first announced, it was supposed to revolutionize air travel. There would be extra space. Salons. Bars. Everything short of a bowling alley. And, oh yes, it was certified to fly 853 passengers ...
For awhile, it was the darling of both the commercial airlines and the freight carriers, because it promised to deliver on the economy of scale. Airlines could fly fewer flights, employ fewer personnel, fly more people and spend less on fuel.
But costly production delays -- more than two years -- and serious problems concerning infrastructure on the ground, contributed to nothing short of a $10 billion financial nightmare for manufacturer Airbus.
One by one, orders got completely canceled (Fedex and UPS), reduced, or deferred. Airbus just announced a loss of $1 billion and laid off 10,000 workers, which prompted a strike.
And all of this happened on the eve of the first "proving" flight to the U.S.
What is a proving flight? It's an attempt, in close to real world conditions, to test how an airplane, its systems and the infrastructure supporting it, will perform.
In order to do that, Lufthansa rounded up 519 people on the eve of the first U.S. flight to crowd into a departure lounge at Frankfurt airport and ... board the plane. Monitors were there to time the test. Three jetways were used.
Remarkably, the airline was able to board everyone in 19 minutes. That timing was somewhat delusional ... No one was carrying heavy luggage. There were no screaming babies, last minute rushing connecting business travelers. No ticketing or boarding pass duplications. And of the 519 people, less than 1 percent (certainly not a reflection of real world numbers) were handicapped -- only five test passengers in wheelchairs.
With the boarding test completed, the airline was ready for a real flight with passengers -- and real bags.
At 6am on Monday, the 19th, 460 passengers (and 31 crew) arrived at the airport. First, we had to check in. This was made easy by the fact that Lufthansa opened eight dedicated counters to process just one flight. Extra staff was on hand to help.
We boarded in about 40 minutes. Still impressive.
Less than eight hours later we touched down at JFK. Media frenzy at JFK and another one at LAX, where the plane landed, but didn't even have a gate that could handle the jumbo.
Now, let's put all of this in perspective. This is a plane designed for ultra-long haul flights. Not a single U.S. carrier has ordered the plane. Not a single foreign carrier has confirmed it will even fly the plane to the U.S. when it starts service. The first airline to begin flying will be Singapore airlines, scheduled to start this October. Lufthansa, which operated the test flight, won't start until at least 2009.
Was it fun to say I was on the first flight? Of course. Was this flight in any way, shape or form indicative of how airlines will operate their A380's when they enter service? Absolutely not. Each airline will configure its planes differently. One thing you can count on: don't look for the lounges, the salons, the boutiques or the bowling alleys. On airplanes, it's all about weight, fuel and performance, and no lounge positively impacts their bottom line. And while the early launch customers all promise that they will keep the number of passengers under 550, let's not lose sight of the original certification: 853 people. Ouch!
Is this really a new generation aircraft? I argue no. Historically, airlines depended on the military to do all their research and development. (The DC-3 was really the C-47). But the military isn't doing any r&d work these days for the airlines, unless you count the stealth bomber. Sadly, what we are witnessing isn't a new generation of aricraft (like hypersonic), but massive extensions of existing airframes in an attempt to be more economical for airlines. In the end, I would suggest that the A380 will not fly me faster, better, or in any more style. The plane I was on earlier this week was the showroom display model -- not reflective of reality. Yes, it's quieter (and that's a definite plus), but if history is any indication -- with perhaps the notable exceptions of Emirates Air and Singapore Air, airlines that somehow manage to have an unlimited budget and STILL exceed it -- for the rest of us, coach will remain...coach.
spectrvlr at 12:39:00 PM EDT Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
Flying the A380
This is one big plane. I could spend this entire column entertaining you with gee whiz figures of how big it is, how wide the wingspan, how many pingpong balls can fit inside, or how many VW beetles could be jammed in, nose to tail.
But that's not important. What IS important: when will this plane fly, and perhaps even more important, will you ever want to fly it?
First, some background. When the giant plane was first announced, it was supposed to revolutionize air travel. There would be extra space. Salons. Bars. Everything short of a bowling alley. And, oh yes, it was certified to fly 853 passengers ...
For awhile, it was the darling of both the commercial airlines and the freight carriers, because it promised to deliver on the economy of scale. Airlines could fly fewer flights, employ fewer personnel, fly more people and spend less on fuel.
But costly production delays -- more than two years -- and serious problems concerning infrastructure on the ground, contributed to nothing short of a $10 billion financial nightmare for manufacturer Airbus.
One by one, orders got completely canceled (Fedex and UPS), reduced, or deferred. Airbus just announced a loss of $1 billion and laid off 10,000 workers, which prompted a strike.
And all of this happened on the eve of the first "proving" flight to the U.S.
What is a proving flight? It's an attempt, in close to real world conditions, to test how an airplane, its systems and the infrastructure supporting it, will perform.
In order to do that, Lufthansa rounded up 519 people on the eve of the first U.S. flight to crowd into a departure lounge at Frankfurt airport and ... board the plane. Monitors were there to time the test. Three jetways were used.
Remarkably, the airline was able to board everyone in 19 minutes. That timing was somewhat delusional ... No one was carrying heavy luggage. There were no screaming babies, last minute rushing connecting business travelers. No ticketing or boarding pass duplications. And of the 519 people, less than 1 percent (certainly not a reflection of real world numbers) were handicapped -- only five test passengers in wheelchairs.
With the boarding test completed, the airline was ready for a real flight with passengers -- and real bags.
At 6am on Monday, the 19th, 460 passengers (and 31 crew) arrived at the airport. First, we had to check in. This was made easy by the fact that Lufthansa opened eight dedicated counters to process just one flight. Extra staff was on hand to help.
We boarded in about 40 minutes. Still impressive.
Less than eight hours later we touched down at JFK. Media frenzy at JFK and another one at LAX, where the plane landed, but didn't even have a gate that could handle the jumbo.
Now, let's put all of this in perspective. This is a plane designed for ultra-long haul flights. Not a single U.S. carrier has ordered the plane. Not a single foreign carrier has confirmed it will even fly the plane to the U.S. when it starts service. The first airline to begin flying will be Singapore airlines, scheduled to start this October. Lufthansa, which operated the test flight, won't start until at least 2009.
Was it fun to say I was on the first flight? Of course. Was this flight in any way, shape or form indicative of how airlines will operate their A380's when they enter service? Absolutely not. Each airline will configure its planes differently. One thing you can count on: don't look for the lounges, the salons, the boutiques or the bowling alleys. On airplanes, it's all about weight, fuel and performance, and no lounge positively impacts their bottom line. And while the early launch customers all promise that they will keep the number of passengers under 550, let's not lose sight of the original certification: 853 people. Ouch!
Is this really a new generation aircraft? I argue no. Historically, airlines depended on the military to do all their research and development. (The DC-3 was really the C-47). But the military isn't doing any r&d work these days for the airlines, unless you count the stealth bomber. Sadly, what we are witnessing isn't a new generation of aricraft (like hypersonic), but massive extensions of existing airframes in an attempt to be more economical for airlines. In the end, I would suggest that the A380 will not fly me faster, better, or in any more style. The plane I was on earlier this week was the showroom display model -- not reflective of reality. Yes, it's quieter (and that's a definite plus), but if history is any indication -- with perhaps the notable exceptions of Emirates Air and Singapore Air, airlines that somehow manage to have an unlimited budget and STILL exceed it -- for the rest of us, coach will remain...coach.
spectrvlr at 12:39:00 PM EDT Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | digg this
3/24/07 2:59 PM