haughtney1 wrote
FWIW Don, we launched out of home base at MTOW the other week 44C T/O bump, APU-packs (atomic batteries to power ) and we were full of punters, 14 tonnes of freight, and 130T of gas, chocked on at IAH 16hrs and 22 minutes later with 7.2 tonnes in the tanks. Not a bad effort for the John Deere. I personally don't see the 380 being a game changer in terms of revenue on those longer sectors, that being said, in EK's case it has just as much to do with "prestige" and……one-upmanship as it does in revenue creation. Anything that breaks even or a bit better will have a 380 on it before long as it is the flagship.
But the 380 will carry 488pax for 16hrs and the 777 will cary 354pax for 16hrs in present EK config. I don't think its about "one-upmanship". Its just that one airplane carries more people than the other and EK can fill them up.
In the case of QF doing 16hrs in their 380 I don't think they have the higher gross weight version and must admit, depending on their config, it's tight and seats might be blocked. IMHO QF should use 777 but EK can get away with using 380s.