Couple of points..

1. Unfortunately the A380 uses Capton insulation aswell, albeit with a secondary cable sheathing underneath. Still makes me shudder to think when I recall the fire damage that arcing Capton can create.


2. The A380 seems to taxi ok to me..got through this lot alright..seriously the taxi issues are completely bogus.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...MG_0265red.jpg


3. Yes it is primarily the cabling thats causing the delays....:{

The (former) West German taxpayers are all paying a hefty extra chunk of money for the restructuring in eastern Germany.

How many more Euros, on average, will come out of their Taschen/pockets to help finance unforecast losses on the A-380 production and sales?:hmm:

How much more from the French taxpayers?:hmm:

Who cares.... :E

The loans to EADS will have to be repaid and the citizens of Europe may well consider that the loan is worth it. The company provides work for many and holds technical knowledge in the continent, rather than people going to work for the Americans ;) . Manufacturing of major capital items is vital to any nation, as the USA plainly recognises when it tries to ensure that major military contracts are placed with US companies.

Please remember,firstly, that every nation on the planet has always been 100% biased in it's own favour!!! And, secondly, that whilst many large countries clamour for 'open markets' the end results are not always balanced.

More anti BA prejudice. BA has a vast fleet of Airbuses.

I was in the room when Rod Eddington was asked. "Are we going to buy the A380". His answer was that BA were not going to be test pilots for a brand new product. He went on to comment that during his time at Cathay the introduction of another brand new product had been fraught with immense problems. And that he had no desire to revisit that experience. He finished by saying that if the Customer liked the A380, then BA would buy them.

L337

A380 problems
 

I noticed that one Hydraulic system is gone.
From the typical 3 GBY the Blue is missing. Is this the result of a saving weight? how about redundancy?

How very innovative of him as BA's boss. He waits till another airline produces good customer response to the A380, THEN he puts in an order!

Aviate 1138
PS As for BA's vast fleet of Airbus machines, when Caledonian was incorporated and BA took on their Airbus fleet they didn't exactly give the flight crews much hope. A pal who flew A 320's said he didn't expect to last on them for long as BA Engineering mainly liked Boeing machines as did the top brass.
Not anti BA [mangement mainly] at all but they chop and change like the wind these days.

Or doublespeak for saying that he was not convinced of the economics of the ugly thing in the first place.

BA...
 

And when BA does finally put in an order, they'll be at the back of the line of customers....:)

barryt Would you rather BA was a bit behind in getting a fancy new a/c - or a long way behind by introducing a machine that takes time, care, attention and money to get right? However smooth the introduction is, the time, effort and £££ for a carrier to be the launch customer is truly massive. There will be delays and cancellations that affect the whole of the fleet and many, many pax. In the long run - that can be highly damaging.

Small and new companies need the publicity of being launch customer and will take the 'hit' of the downside to be the test bed for the manufacturer. OTOH big companies do not want that and will avoid the risk. As I recall, VS stated after being launch for the A340-600, Never Again.

PAXBoy I can understand and appreciate BA's risk management strategy with regard to acquiring the A380, and it makes sense, but there is also a fine balancing act that will be required, because (as I believe), there will come a time when they will need to act, and when (not if, I believe) they do, it will yet still be a trade-off between "problems" and maintaining the economics of their own business - and they will go to the back of the queue when they put in an order, like anyone else (unless they perform special "tricks" ... ;). If they leave it too long, it will begin costing them dearly, since I believe the uptake on orders for the A380 will only increase, and begin to snowball over the next 2 or 3 years. One argument has always been that there isn't really a market to accomodate enough of them in the air. And it's a valid one. Except it assumes the kinds of pax will remain the same. And the fares will remain roughly the same. I believe a new "thing" is starting, and it's rather subtle. I believe more and more people are going to begin flying (people who perhaps previously couldn't afford to), and the era of "low cost international carriers" is upon us. I really believe there is a subtle change taking place in "pax profile", for want of a better word. And it's going to support the A380. And I believe it will ultimately make the continuing operations of the 747 uneconomical by comparison. Singapore Airlines etc have been quick on the uptake, and in my opinion, very shrewd indeed. They are going to make a "killing" in the future I think....Although all this will take a good few years I though probably, who knows HOW many years, but the whole scenario could be on us a lot quicker than we think, and BA could easily be caught with their "pants down" as it were, so whether they like it or not, it makes good business sense to maintain some kind of tangible hold on putting orders in for the A380....Richard Branson knows what he's doing... ;) But then again, he's always been light-years ahead of BA.... ;)

Even so, remember that BA's strengths are not in cultivating the low-fare low-yield passenger. There will always be a place for that part of the market in BA's aircraft, and BA has in the past suffered from positively ignoring and despising it. But BA's strengths abide in the cabins for which big bucks are paid. Even though BA needs some low-fare pax, getting A380s now will force BA to positively chase the low-fare market: That, I think, would be financially disastrous for the airline.

A380
 

Globaliser has it right. The A380 only save money when it is full. Chasing empty seats with below cost fares is all of the airlines biggest single problem. Personally I think the premium traffic will avoid the A380. You cannot buy time and people with first class money don't want to waste it while they load the plane.

I spend most of my life flying longhaul and normally in buisness class, along with a large number of my collegues. To be fair I don't care what a/c I'm on.
My order of requiurements are:
1. Flight times / routing (I want the last leg home to be the long one)
2. Service
3. Anything else

If you take me and my collegues as the type of passenger airlines want (fairly high yield).

1. The last leg home will not be supported by the A380 as I live at an airport which does not have any airlines who have bought the A380 and even if they did it wouldn't support these routes. The last think I want is to sit at FRA for 4 hours after a longhaul flight for only a 2hr flight home.

2. BA service rocks! By far the best buisness class. So even if I can choose which aircraft type I'll be flying on BA no matter what it is.

I heard a little rumour that one airline has pulled out of firm orders because of high fuel consumption concerns on this a/c

Nardi Rivera & ARNIC: regarding your posts numbers 70 & 76. The name of the wire is KAPTON.

Keep in mind, sir: rumours are not fact. Take it from an insider - no cancelled orders. None on the horizon, none in hiding. Patience is a virtue, saith the airlines... ref Singapore's recent comments.

Cheers, y'all.

Hi Mudfoot,

Patience will certainly NEED to be a virtue flying anywhere near any A380.

The time needed to check in, assemble at the gate(s), load all the pax, and then fly to the hub nearest your destination in the slowest airplanes in the skies, not even counting the fact that it might be behind another one, and thereby causing a doubling of the traffic departure, enroute and approach interval, and thats assuming the prior A380 doesn't have to taxi back via the parallel taxiway, which will cause another delay to your landing.

Forget it, "IF it ain't......"

Cheers, FD :ugh:

I hope to fly the A380n as im in a current line check!!

the A380? not from the numbers, so what do you mean?