Superjumbo jet may be too big for its own good
— -- Jason Speer plans to be part of history on Thursday in Singapore when he and about 470 other travelers board the first-ever commercial flight of the new Airbus A380.
But the 32-year-old Chicago-area manufacturing executive and aviation enthusiast is likely to remain for many years among a relatively small group of Americans to experience travel aboard the massive double-decker A380.
No U.S. carrier has ordered one, and the rollout of the superjumbo worldwide promises to be slow. Only 13 of the planes are scheduled to be built in 2008. Another 25 are scheduled in 2009. After trying to sell the plane for seven years, Airbus, its European manufacturer, has only 189 orders.
"There's about a dozen cities in the world that can truly accommodate this big of an airplane," says Richard Aboulafia, aviation manufacturing analyst at The Teal Group in Fairfax, Va. "London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney — cities like those. You probably won't even see this plane in Chicago, at least not regularly, or any time soon."
When Singapore Airlines operates that first A380 flight from Singapore to Sydney, the superjumbo jet will replace Boeing's venerable 747 as the world's largest jetliner, a title the bump-nosed Boeing has held for 37 years.
How and where the new superjumbo is deployed beyond its Singapore-Sydney service remains unclear. Singapore Airlines expects its second A380 in January, and six others by early 2009.
But, mainly for competitive reasons, the airline won't be nailed down on specific route plans except to say A380 could begin flying between San Francisco and Hong Kong in late 2008 or early 2009. And Singapore-London service in early 2008 is a possibility.
Qantas, the Australian carrier that'll be the second carrier to operate the A380, also says it plans eventually to fly it to the USA, as does Germany's Lufthansa, the third carrier to get the plane. Neither will say when or where.
Fast-growing Dubai-based Emirates Air, which has the largest pending order for A380s, also expects to eventually fly the big airplane on routes between the Middle East and the USA. Emirates has 47 firm orders.
According to Airbus, just three U.S. airports — Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York John F. Kennedy — will be among the top 20 worldwide for the presence of A380s in 2025. The airports that will handle A380 flights are taking special steps to accommodate the behemoth. Because of its size — 262 feet wide, 79 feet tall, 1.25 million pounds fully loaded — most taxiways can't support it. The A380 can fit into only a handful of existing gates in the nation.
Aboulafia and some other analysts believe that the A380 may be too big to ever make a profit for airlines. He calls the A380 "the last airplane of the metal era," saying the future belongs to planes made of weight-saving composite materials. Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and Airbus' own A350 XWB, neither of which are yet in service, are made of composites.
But that doesn't mean that the experience of flying on an A380 will be bad. Quite the opposite. Grand notions of on-board gymnasiums, discos and even bowling alleys haven't materialized. But some carriers that have placed orders for the A380 plan to make it the epitome of travel luxury — at least for premium-class fliers.
Singapore's A380s feature 12 private suites, designed by French yacht designer Jean-Jacques Coste. The seat in each suite converts into a true double bed that will be covered by duvets and high-quality sheets from Givenchy.
They also come equipped with 23-inch LCD TVs and all the latest fold-out tables, jacks, ports and entertainment devices.
Meanwhile, Singapore's 60 business-class seats on the upper-deck measure 34 inches across and convert into lie-flat beds. They, too, have all the latest electronic bells and whistles.
Other carriers are keeping their cabin configurations a secret for now. But they also are likely to have distinctive features. Virgin Atlantic officials have hinted about installing showers and salons in their A380s.
Speer, the travel buff who plans to be on the inaugural flight, paid about $9,000 for his business-class ticket in an online auction of seats. The auction raised $1.2 million for charity. The actual round-trip fare would have been just over $7,000.
Speer can't resist the novelty of Thursday's flight, but he really doesn't want to fly on the big plane again.
"The thought of being in Customs with 500 other people and their baggage does not appeal to me," he says. "This is an opportunity to experience once and be part of history, but I don't think I'd want to do it on a regular basis."