Originally Posted by
mickjoebill
What size of reduction in fuel costs would give a380 a new lease of life?
Given global warming and calls in Australia to have its own fire fighting fleet, is life as a water bomber feasible? What is its payload if loaded with only, let’s say, 4 hours of fuel?
mjb
At a 30% reduction in fuel they would still be more thirsty than the new twins (depending on units used) in the medium range. So at a 25-35% reduction you would still only be replacing existing frames and not growing the market.
I would expect that a conversion to a water bomber would face the same structural issues as being a freighter. It also is limited by airports that could handle it 130 worldwide.