A380 ops

[belloldtimer]

G'day,

Anyone know how things are going with commercial ops of the A380. I just checked with SIA and they advertise one flight a day from singapre to sydney flight sq221. Just wondering if anyone's heard anything so far. Inquiring minds need to know and all!

Cheers,

Belloldtimer

[HotDog]

Trouble free and on time ops into and out of Sydney. SIA is very happy with the beast, they claim it uses less fuel than advertised by Airbus.

[belloldtimer]

load factors

Got any idea what type of load factors their seeing. You gotta believe if there are say 300 sob's (souls on board) the economics of the 777 or 747 would be much better. I wonder what the break even point is, of course in the real world with different landing fees, cargo on board, crew costs, etc. its not a simple equation. Just curious! When I worked with Pan Am they took delivery of their first few 747's and they published numbers that were pure fantasy until someone caught on. It sure made good press and after a while we really did see much higher load factors that made a good business case for the jumbo, and the rest as they say is history. I only hope the 380 has the same good luck and profitability.


Belloldtimer

[DickyPearse]

Got any idea what type of load factors their seeing. You gotta believe if there are say 300 sob's (souls on board) the economics of the 777 or 747 would be much better

I don't know numbers but SIN-SYD is a heavy route with SIA having 2 or 3 flights arriving most mornings. It is not a "build it and they will come" route.

[WHBM]

Singapore have advertised that in a couple of months they will go up to four flights a day to Sydney, which indicates the demand they are getting for the route. Still only one A380 at this stage, plus two B744 and one B773. The next A380s arriving soon will enable a daily through Sydney-Singapore-London routing.

[AircraftOperations]

Am I correct in thinking that they have been charging higher fares on the A380 flight than for flights on 747s and 777s?

[Volume]

Am I correct in thinking that they have been charging higher fares

Don´t think so. My A380 flight last month was a real bargain, but it was a Lufthansa code share flight anyway.
Don´t know about business or Suite, but Eco had a 100% load factor on that flight.

Trouble free and on time ops into and out of Sydney

Would not support that statement 100%, but at least low trouble operation. Prior to my flight a crowd of mechanics was working for at least 3 hours on engine no.3. No problem, as SIA has planned for long turnaround times at this stage of operation, 14 hrs flying and 10hrs ground time every day. Flight arrived on time, but leaving the plane was delayed due to a medical incident during the flight and Australian quarantaine rules. Of course the chance of such event is directly proportional to the number of pax on board, hence it is high on the A380.

Most amazing is the quiet cabin! Otherwise (at least in Eco) it is just an aircraft.

[ladyflyby]

I am flying on it next month and can't wait!!