The unveiling yesterday of Airbus 380, the world’s largest airliner that will carry up to 840 passengers on twin decks four-aisles wide, in Toulouse, France, is clearly a pivotal moment for air travel. But precisely what it will mean is not yet clear. The Boeing 747 jumbo flew its first commercial flight exactly 35 years ago this Saturday. Within six months, the first Jumbos had carried more than a million passengers, as airports rushed to build new terminal facilities to accommodate the huge planes.
Similar reconstruction is going to be necessary to handle the monster Airbus 380s. Heathrow alone is spending $841 million on its upgrading. For many airports this is not going to be simply a question of adjusting docking quays. Having almost thousand passengers hurrying through airports to and from a single flight is going to demand changes to everything from corridors, waiting rooms to customs and emigration controls. The Airbus 380 is going to make a difference to air travel. With the fuel cost per passenger mile dropping dramatically and the need for airlines operating these aircraft to have less expensive landing and take off slots at major hub airports, the economics seem to be stacking up well for the operators. It is also argued that there will be an environmental benefit in having less aircraft polluting the skies.
Airbus Industries, the pan-European consortium which has invested over $11 billion in the A380 key parts of which are made in consortium states then shipped expensively to Toulouse for final assembly, says it needs to sell 250 of the new planes to break even. It has 149 confirmed orders, 100 options and is confident that in the 40-year life of the aircraft, more than 700 will be sold
For passengers the A380 is likely to mean a further reduction in air fares, especially for those prepared to travel last minute and buy deeply discounted unsold seats. However, it is also likely to bring a big difference in the way people travel. It is interesting that all the advanced publicity contains film of luxurious, spacious accommodation with the option of shops and lounges in aircraft configures to take 555 passengers.
No doubt such airplanes will be bought for high-value routes with predominantly business users who are prepared to pay business- or first-class fares. The reality for standard class passengers is almost certain to be starkly different. If up to 840 passengers can be fitted on board, some airlines are going to do just that. With the best will in the world, that sort of sardine-can accommodation could prove extremely uncomfortable, psychologically, if not physically.
\Further, even though a great deal of thought will have been given to safety designs, there must be still questions about how successfully an airplane with more than three aisles of passengers could be evacuated in an emergency. Panic on board an aircraft of that size is too horrible to contemplate. Though air is still the very safest way of traveling, there are bound to be accidents and the size of the tragedies will be consequently greater.
