A380 pan-arounds

[JoeZhang]

I know we have a lot of aircraft fans here - I thought you guys would dig this:

http://www.a380delivery.com/qantas/panos/tour/tour/

 

[Lindley]

I got to fly on an Emirates A380 last December. I could hardly feel the thing take off.

 

[scotpens]

That is way cool. I love the four classes of accommodation: First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy, and Cattle Car!

And the glass cockpit with fighter-style joysticks. Do all modern airliners have those instead of the traditional control yokes?

 

[Marc]

That is way cool. I love the four classes of accommodation: First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy, and Cattle Car!

And the glass cockpit with fighter-style joysticks. Do all modern airliners have those instead of the traditional control yokes?

The interiour looks like it's been updated. QANTAS was going to have it's cattle class decked out in an ugly green iirc.

Not sure what he design of the first class really achieves - business is more efficient.

Only the Airbus aircraft after the A310 have side sticks which they use with a fly by wire system.

Boeing have gone the FBW with the 777 and the 787 but have stuck with the traditional yoke.

A pic of the 787 cockpit.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Boei...1838179/&sid=40c08fc046e3d5f8a67e07b8d991bb94

Another thing about the A380 cockpit - the computer systems are very complex. When the QANTAS A380 suffered the uncontained failure a couple of months back, it took the flight crew plus the two others (a check pilot and some-one doing their captain's certification iirc) over an hour to clear all the ECAMS messages.

 

[scotpens]

Not sure what he design of the first class really achieves - business is more efficient.

In addition to whatever service amenities are exclusive to first class, you’re paying mainly for more breathing space and a sense of semi-privacy with those individual “cubicles” for each seat. Airlines don’t make money on first class anyway -- a situation that goes back to the days of the Titanic, when the White Star shipping line made most of its profit from steerage passengers.

 

[JoeZhang]

In addition to whatever service amenities are exclusive to first class, you’re paying mainly for more breathing space and a sense of semi-privacy with those individual “cubicles” for each seat.

Notice there is also what appears to be a second seat in first class "Cabins" so your significant other can join you for a drink.

 

[Marc]

Not sure what he design of the first class really achieves - business is more efficient.

In addition to whatever service amenities are exclusive to first class, you’re paying mainly for more breathing space and a sense of semi-privacy with those individual “cubicles” for each seat. Airlines don’t make money on first class anyway -- a situation that goes back to the days of the Titanic, when the White Star shipping line made most of its profit from steerage passengers.

In recent times, airlines have been complaing how the lack of first and business class passengers is really hurting their bottom line which would suggst for airlines it's the other way around.

And at minimum business class can be viable if not outright profitable. Singapore Airlines has 5 A340-500s fitted out to carry 100 business class passengers which I gather they run between Singapore and New York. The 345 is a 4 engine aircraft so it's more expensive to run and depending on fit out would carry between 359 and 375 passengers.

 

[J.T.B.]

Not sure what he design of the first class really achieves - business is more efficient.

In addition to whatever service amenities are exclusive to first class, you’re paying mainly for more breathing space and a sense of semi-privacy with those individual “cubicles” for each seat.

And to be seen in and be able to mention that you flew first class!

Airlines don’t make money on first class anyway -- a situation that goes back to the days of the Titanic, when the White Star shipping line made most of its profit from steerage passengers.

Often true for domestic routes but the luxury seats on intercontinental long-hauls are usually quite profitable, and economy is closer to break-even.

A pic of the 787 cockpit.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Boei...1838179/&sid=40c08fc046e3d5f8a67e07b8d991bb94

I like Boeing's traditional yokes but they would get in the way of your dinner tray. Looks like Airbus might have an edge in flight deck cupholders, too!

Impressive as it it, I still find the 380 to be an ugly duck. I liked it better when the cockpit was going to be on the upper deck.

--Justin

 

[Marc]

Airlines don’t make money on first class anyway -- a situation that goes back to the days of the Titanic, when the White Star shipping line made most of its profit from steerage passengers.

Often true for domestic routes but the luxury seats on intercontinental long-hauls are usually quite profitable, and economy is closer to break-even.

I think it was CNBC's business channel that had a program called "A Week In The Life" that did one on American Airlines and they ran the numbers on a flight from the New York to Los Angeles. I can't remember the number but there were quite a few different seat prices from the dirt cheap (under $100) to the bought the ticket at the last minute (in the $1000s).

At the end of the day the flight returned a profit of $59.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Airfare pricing is some seriously deep magic and I'd love to get a look at the algorithms behind it sometime. It would probably give me nightmares.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

Airfare pricing is some seriously deep magic and I'd love to get a look at the algorithms behind it sometime. It would probably give me nightmares.

it surprisingly isn't that complex once you understand two basic things: 1). Airlines are one of the only companies that can sell the same product to more than one person and 2). hauling more people isn't always best.

There are other grains in the mix, but those two things guide just about everything.