Another A380 Woe?
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Production to end in 2021; a pity, it's a lovely plane for passengers, very quiet.
I vividly recall during it's development that Boeing were saying Airbus got their market research all wrong. I guess they've been vindicated.
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Boeing then stuffed up 787 development/production too, but there was enough of a market there to recover it.
Both companies will have learned from the experience - notably Airbus took the A350 right back to the drawing board based on market research, and then seem to have developed and produced it very quietly and uneventfully, and it sells. 777X may well go the same way for Boeing - certainly seems much less eventful than the 787 so far.
For the record, I understand that Etihad have reduced, rather than completely cancelled their A350 order.
But back to the A380.........
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Interesting discussion. History has a way of repeating itself. The A-380 story has many parallels to the DC-10/L-1011 development. Both Lockheed and Douglas had a limited market for a 3 engine wide body aircraft. Both manufacturers didn’t want its competitor to control the market so each built an aircraft that would insure a split market at best, and sales would never reach a profitable level. In the end the decision to build both aircraft led to the demise of Lockheed’s commercial division and was a huge financial burden to McD. I know Airbus believed there was a market for a super-jumbo, but as long as Boeing was still building the 747, most sales would be split, and profit margins shaved due to underbidding etc...couple this with the fact that the costs of building the 380 was quite expensive vice the 747, due to various reasons other posters have mentioned, and one has the recipe for financial and market failure.
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While I am not an air freight expert, I think there is a significant difference between bulk carriers and containerized/palletized carriers. The Antonovs are bulk carriers -- one huge cargo bay that can carry outsized idiosyncratic freight. The 747s generally have two decks and carry containers or pallets. Unless, the Antonovs can be redesigned to segment their cargo bays into multiple decks, they won't be competitive in carrying standardized container/pallets.
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The 74 arrived at just the right time to be the success it was
There was just nothing that came close at the time and it took quite a time for the 340s/777s etc to arrive on the market.
The 380 is a niche product at huge costs IMHO and thats why it had a problem right from the start. And it is fugly. Nothing like the gracious lines of the 47, which still looks just right.
Most of the posts that declare a preference for traveling on the A380, seem to be from “Premium SLF”
My one and only sector on one was a SQ flight from London to Singapore, in the back of the bus. It was the most uncomfortable long-haul flight I have ever experienced. Both my wife and I made frequent trips to the lavatories, not because of a need, but just to be able to sit in a different position for a few minutes!
My only other encounter with an A380 was an hour in a simulator. That was a completely different experience.
My one and only sector on one was a SQ flight from London to Singapore, in the back of the bus. It was the most uncomfortable long-haul flight I have ever experienced. Both my wife and I made frequent trips to the lavatories, not because of a need, but just to be able to sit in a different position for a few minutes!
My only other encounter with an A380 was an hour in a simulator. That was a completely different experience.
I've seen numbers that show the Airbus estimates were actually about the number they sold
Airbus' Global Market Forecast from the year 2000 predicted that 1,235 "very large aircraft" would be delivered to customers between 2000 and 2019
Poor phrasing on my part. There have been 313 firm orders for the A380 and 234 deliveries as of 07 February, 2019. I suppose one should subtract the cancelled Emirates order which was, I believe, 53 aircraft.
As for the Antonovs, SeenItAll beat me to it - they are not routinely used for scheduled freight service (and are not cost effective for such use). Rather the AN124 is basically a charter freighter - used to transport outsized items that simply don't fit in other freighter aircraft.
India Four Two,
To the contrary, I resolutely refuse to pay ten times the normal fare to travel business/1st, even if the client is paying, so pretty much always travel economy, and my choice of seat these past few years has been A380 each and every time. Not sure about SQ but the Gulf, European and Middle Eastern carriers that I have flown on are by far the most comfortable airliner seats that I have experienced. They are large enough to be comfortable even on the most rigorous lh routes.
To the contrary, I resolutely refuse to pay ten times the normal fare to travel business/1st, even if the client is paying, so pretty much always travel economy, and my choice of seat these past few years has been A380 each and every time. Not sure about SQ but the Gulf, European and Middle Eastern carriers that I have flown on are by far the most comfortable airliner seats that I have experienced. They are large enough to be comfortable even on the most rigorous lh routes.