Originally Posted by
Heathrow Harry
more people are flying and it's getting harder and harder to expand airports anywhere in the first World = more and more slot constraints = need for bigger and bigger aircraft
I’ve never been entirely convinced by this argument.
I don’t think it’s entirely correct to say that it’s difficult to build new airports in the First World; Spain seems to have found it far too easy for example…… The real problem lies with major hubs, particularly in areas that are already highly developed. Let’s call them mega-hubs. I would agree that the A380 is ideally suited to flying between mega-hub pairs, but how many such pairs are there really? Willie Walsh, who I would guess knows more about running an airline than most of us, seems to think that the scope is limited. And the A380 isn’t the only aircraft that airlines can upsize to if they need more capacity.
Another issue which needs to be considered is point to point travel. Ever larger aircraft flying between hubs isn’t the only solution to increased passenger traffic. Modern twin jets can increasingly fly point to point economically to and between regional airports thereby relieving some of the pressure on the major hubs.
Finally, let’s not overlook the second hand market. Some airlines are handing back A380’s, and Emirates may start to retire theirs in the not too distant future. Won’t the availability of these dampen demand for brand new A380’s?
Don’t get me wrong – I can see the usefulness of the A380 and I’m not condemning it to a slow death, but I don’t think it’s the only game in town by any stretch of the imagination.