Originally Posted by
737 Driver
Concur with why these two aircraft are being parted out. It is also my understanding that the A380 will not make an easy cargo conversion because of the work required to beef up the cabin floor. Maybe someone else who has a better background can comment?
The A380 simply does not pencil out well as a freighter. Max Zero Fuel Weight is too low - it has great range but can't carry a heavy load - and the cargo market is based around 3,000 to 4,000 mile legs so range above that doen't have much value (747 Freighters seldom even use the center wing fuel tank for that reason - better to carry more payload and make a stop for gas). The main deck would need massive strengthening to carry a reasonable cargo load, and the upper deck is all but unusable for freight - even if it was strengthened, you'd need new, specialized (i.e. expensive) GSE to get the stuff up there. Plus all that extra structure would increase the empty weight without raising the MZFW so now you can carry even less cargo. Of course, there is the option of increasing the MZFW, but that's a huge, very expensive effort (both non-recurring development and recurring to upgrade the individual airframes). The flight deck location effectively rules out an opening nose door for oversized stuff.
Or you can go pick up a 747F and be good to go.
BTW
The pressure to be fuel efficient will only increase as the drums of climate change continue to beat.
Although better fuel efficiency was an early claim for the A380, the bottom line is that the A350, 787, and soon 777X have significantly better fuel burn per seat mile than the A380 (even the A330 NEO is probably better). And the big twins will take you where you want to go, not to some hub where you have to get on another flight to get to your destination.