Originally Posted by
donpizmeov
When they carry large 380 loads into DXB, they have large 380 loads to carry onwards. Having a hub half way between Europe and Asia makes this work for them.
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Airlines without such a hub will never be able to consistently fill enough seats to be able to operate large fleets of 380s. In fact order books for anything with more than 300 seats are hurting.
Don
Big assumption is EK A380
loads are always good, which is not true. EY doing much better with fewer seats than EK at DFW. Even a third world carrier like Air India doing better on DEL-SFO with a low density B77L.
It is very easy for competitors to offer a non-stop between Asia and Europe with a smaller WB like B788 or A332. In future even A321NEOLR non-stops will eat into hub feed. There is absolutely no difference for budget Y pax between A380 and A321NEOLR and there is very little premium traffic and even 1-2 rows of 2-2 flatbed will be sufficient.