Graphic: inside the Airbus A380; plus how it sizes up to Boeing's rival aircraft, the 747-400 If you are anywhere between West London and Windsor this Thursday, look out for a monster descending from the clouds. About mid-morning, a prototype Airbus A380 “superjumbo”, which can carry up to 873 passengers and crew, will make its debut approach into Heathrow.
This new double-decker airliner is the biggest yet, smashing records held by the Boeing 747 for almost four decades. The A380 is longer, higher, wider and heavier than the jumbo; it can fly farther and carry many more people. Last week I visited the Airbus headquarters at Toulouse in southern France, where the planes are assembled, and can vouch that you really need to see these giants up close to appreciate their staggering scale.
First, I joined one of the popular group tours of the expansive Airbus site. The English-speaking guide, Yannick Pressicaud, regaled 30 of us with astounding statistics as a bus drove us alongside the runway. We watched a take-off of the bizarre, swollen-headed “Beluga” transporter plane that fetches wings, fuselage sections and other “sub-assemblies” from Britain, Germany, Spain and elsewhere in France. Then we approached a box-shaped structure so gigantic that it looked as if it could comfortably contain a small town. In fact, it housed seven A380s under construction.
“This is the biggest building in Europe . . . the floor space is more than 10ha . . .” The facts flowed on. Once we had taken the lift high up to an observation deck, it was the spectacle before us that inspired awe. Ant-like figures milling about on the factory floor below put into perspective the row of leviathans, fat as blue whales, with vast wings and tailfins as high as eight-storey buildings.
The prototype coming to Heathrow is one of four currently making test flights around the world. None has yet had passenger cabins fitted, but the Airbus product marketing manager, Thomas Burger, says: “With two full-length wide-bodied decks and lounge areas either end, airlines have scope for offering novel styles of flying.”
Sir Richard Branson has already stolen a publicity march by suggesting that Virgin A380s might have on-board gyms, showers, beauty parlours and casinos, not to mention double beds in private cabins. Such notions are purely conceptual, since Virgin is not due to take its first delivery until 2009. However, Airbus took us to see — as an example of what is possible — a mock-up super-jumbo interior which includes a two-tier lounge area around the rear spiral staircase, featuring a cocktail bar with soft leather seats, a shop stuffed with designer goods, and a fountain.
We can assume that such wonders are not for economy class passengers. And airlines are tight-lipped about their plans for premium classes, lest rivals pinch them. Singapore Airlines, which will be the first to operate the A380 — on the London-Singapore-Sydney “kangaroo route” starting in December — says only that it will be offering “something distinct from what is available today” and that the planes will be configured for “fewer than 480 passengers”, suggesting capacious cabins and lounge areas. Next up, in mid-2007, will be Emirates, which has ordered various configurations ranging from 489 seats to a nightmarish-sounding 644.
So far, 159 superjumbos have been ordered by 16 airlines, with British Airways a conspicuous absentee from the list. BA appears to be hedging its bets because, for all its wonders, the superjumbo is a massive gamble. Is the future of long-haul aviation really huge aircraft flying between the world’s major hubs? Or is it, as arch-rival Boeing has concluded, smaller planes making more direct flights between more destinations? Boeing has decided not to replace the 747 with a rival mega-airliner. Instead, it is developing the smaller, fuel-efficient, ultra-long-range 787 “Dreamliner”, which will carry about 250 passengers and is due to enter service in 2008.
Time will tell who is right: Americans believing that smaller is better, or Europeans acting like Texans. Meanwhile, as Heathrow joins the superjumbo club, we can only look to the skies in shock and awe.
BIGGER, LONGER, FATHER...
The take-off thrust is the equivalent of about 2,500 family cars. NEED TO KNOW
Getting there: Martin Symington travelled with easyJet (0905 8210905 — calls cost 65p a minute, www.easyjet.com), which flies twice daily from Gatwick to Toulouse from £33.74 return. Flights from Bristol to Toulouse start on July 21.
Airbus tours: Group tours of the Airbus site taking in the A380 assembly plant can be booked through Taxiway (00 33 5 61 18 06 01, www.taxiway.fr). Tours cost £12.75.
Further information: www.airbus.com.
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BUMPY RIDE
by Ben Webster, The Times Transport Correspondent
The A380’s gargantuan proportions are meant to be its chief selling point, but in fact may bring about the aircraft’s undoing. Airbus is struggling to persuade international regulators that the double-decker will not cause dangerous turbulence for planes following in its wake.
In a preliminary ruling, the International Civil Aviation Organisation has said that there must be an 11-mile gap between the A380 and any aircraft landing behind it.
That is double the distance for a Boeing 747 and at a stroke would destroy the business case for the A380.
Airbus says that the A380 will solve capacity problems at many of the world’s leading airports, especially Heathrow, by delivering up to 600 passengers for each landing slot. But if the ICAO ruling stands, the A380 will actually reduce the capacity of any airport it uses.
Airbus conducted flight tests in February with an A380 and a 747 to try to prove there was little difference in their wake turbulence. It has so far refused to publish the results. Airbus has not announced a new customer for almost a year.
