Originally Posted by
msbbarratt
520 into the A380 is not a squeeze, not even "closely spaced". A squeeze would be more like 800, and no one is flying that configuration. To "justify" the 777-8/9 Boeing are seemingly adding another seat to each row; that's not going to be more comfortable, just slightly bigger. So if bigger matters, perhaps some other airlines will bet bigger.
In a saturated market the 777 8/9 works only if it is 80% of the operating costs of the A380, and 60% of the A380-900 (it has 650 seats). 60% sounds difficult to achieve. And even if they do achieve that an airline on the A380 would be far more profitable because it would be carrying far more passengers. And with an economic recovery seemingly taking place we might see a pick up in the passenger carrying business.
That is a little simplistic. A lot depends on route scheduling and load factors. Having two flights a day with a 400 seat aircraft at 95% load factor is a lot more efficient than two flights a day with an 550+ seat aircraft at 70% load factor. One flight a day of the 500+ seat aircraft at 99% load factor might be profitable but leave an unfulfilled demand for a different departure time.
The business SLF will be looking at the ideal departure times for their personal schedule and a once a day take-it-or-leave-it will lose that traffic, which is the real 'bread and butter' traffic the airlines want. The bucket-and-spade tourist traffic will fly whenever its cheapest but is far less dependable business.