Originally Posted by
White Knight
I've often had 600 plus pax plus all of their bags plus 25 tonnes of freight. The 380 can carry the weight- the problem is bulky stuff like a whole Ferrari!
It's not a matter of mass. It's a question of volume. Passenger baggage is low density, taking up lots of space without weighing all that much. The lower lobe (cargo deck) volume of an A380 is actually LESS than 777-300ER's lower lobe volume (175.3 cuM vs 201.6 cuM). But since the A380 is a double deck above, it carries far more people so that lower lobe is filled with much more luggage, leaving little space for freight. How much freight
weight can be carried depends on both the number of passengers aboard and the distance to be flown. As a comparison, according to Emirates, on the city-pairs they operate, an A380 with a full pax load the average freight capacity is 50 cuM and 8000 kgs and for a 777-300ER with a full pax load it's 125 cuM and 23,000 kg. That's a huge difference in freight capacity for the much "smaller" aircraft. And freight generates serious profits. And that's why airlines buy airplanes. To make money. And here's the troublesome part: Boeing is coming out with a bigger and significantly more efficient version of the 777 which will further shrink the A380s market niche and further shrink its profitability. The business case for stretching/upgrading the A380 is non existent, even if Airbus magically found the resources to do so.
Again, addressing the secondary market, if you turn an A380 into a high density passenger hauler serving the charter market, can you fit all the passengers' luggage into the cargo hold, or are you going to have to restrict the amount of baggage passengers can bring aboard? Crunch the numbers: an Emirates A380 in three class configuration fills 75% of its cargo volume with baggage and has 25% cargo volume margin for freight. That means a high density configuration that carries more than 25% additional passengers than the Emirates configuration will not have room for all the baggage unless there are baggage restrictions. How will that sell?
Douglas seriously looked at a double decker when they designed the MD-12. The economics did not make sense and it was never built. It seems Airbus was too intent on "one upping" Boeing and pressed ahead with a slightly bigger aircraft than the MD-12 and thus would have an even smaller (and more questionable) niche market. And so here they are, with "the best yet to come." Yah shur.