EoW July 2007

Transat lant ic Cable

But the big plane’s star turn on 19 th March did set off some sobering speculation about its prospects for success in the US, even given the best conditions on the ground. After touchdown at JFK, the pilot opened a cockpit window to wave an American flag to an excited throng that included reporters and photographers aboard three helicopters hovering nearby. The next day, the largest passenger plane in the world took a celebratory ‘flight to nowhere’ and circled over Manhattan Island before commencing a tour that would include stops at Dulles International, outside Washington, and O’Hare in Chicago. “When you see it fly, even hardened airplane hands stop and look,” Edmund S Greenslet, publisher of the trade publication Airline Monitor , told the New York Times . “It will be noticed. It is dramatic. To see it is to be impressed at its sheer magnitude.” Thus did the A380 demonstrate its ability to generate buzz. But the Times ’s Leslie Wayne pointed out that turning buzz into actual sales in the United States is another matter. He noted that no American carrier had placed an order for the plane, and many experts feel that none will anytime soon. (‘Airbus Superjumbo Takes a Lap around America,’ 20 th March) Mr Wayne wrote: “The financial problems of some carriers prohibit them from affording the $300 million craft. But, even more, American carriers say they have no need for a plane so big – preferring instead smaller planes that can carry 200 to 300 passengers for more frequent non-stop service among more cities.” An example cited is American Airlines, which has not purchased any A380s. Tim Wagner, a spokesman, told the Times that American was instead using the Boeing 777, which carries 250 to 350 passengers, on such long-haul flights as Chicago-New Delhi and Dallas-Tokyo. If demand on these routes increases, American would rather offer more flights than use bigger planes, he said. “We’d rather meet customer demand with multiple flights a day between cities than by having one flight on one gigantic aircraft,” said Mr Wagner. But airport managers have a different perspective, which could improve the long-term US prospects of the A380. Airports have to be concerned about congestion both in the air and on the ground. William DeCota, director of aviation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates airports in the New York region, including Kennedy, told the Times: “It’s not desirable to have more flights, but it is desirable to have more people.” Accordingly, Mr Wayne observed, anything that increases the number of passengers without increasing the number of flights will likely be welcome – once the modifications are in place to receive a craft eight stories tall and with a wingspan almost as long as a football field. Even though American carriers are not rushing to buy the Airbus A380, the plane will be flying in American skies. International carriers are planning to use it for flights in and out of Kennedy, O’Hare, Dulles, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Eventually, Miami, Orlando, Dallas and Denver may also see the A380. This much is certain: it will not be mistaken for any other craft. ❈

A bi-coastal welcome for the Airbus A380

Los Angeles International is a ‘tired airport’ and ‘an embarrassment’ In an article in the Los Angeles Times for 20 th March (‘Airbus c’est arrive!’), writer Paul Thornton offered a few facts that went unmentioned by any of the luminaries who gathered the day before to greet the mega-jumbo Airbus A380 on its first arrival on the West Coast. Los Angeles Airport had lobbied hard for the honour. And, more than a year before, LAX officials had been told that they would host the A380’s first US stop if they fast- tracked gate upgrades to accommodate the big plane. But, even though LAX fulfilled its part of the bargain, Airbus decided to send the A380 to New York’s John F Kennedy Airport instead. LAX officials complained, and Airbus crafted a compromise: two A380s would land, minutes apart, at JFK and LAX. Mr Thornton wrote: “Alas, [Los Angeles] got the consolation prize. New York hosted a fully decked-out plane carrying nearly 500 passengers – mostly Lufthansa and Airbus employees – who enjoyed full meal service on their transatlantic hop. The plane that landed in LA carried mostly test computers and other equipment. ”The Angeleno, a self-proclaimed aviation nerd, wrote more in sorrow than in anger. At the welcoming ceremony, even as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa asserted that super-size planes such as the A380 are ‘better for our airports,’ in the distance behind the mayor Mr Thornton saw ageing terminals already crowded wingtip-to-wingtip with jets much smaller than the A380. Noting that, by the end of this year, just two gates at LAX will be able to accommodate the A380, Mr Thornton declared that LAX is one of the worst-equipped airports that will handle the plane. It is, in his view, ‘a tired airport that is an embarrassment in international aviation circles.’ Despite the ‘surreal disconnect’ between that dilapidation and the hype of the moment, Mr Thornton acknowledged that the festive welcoming ceremony was all about the plane of tomorrow coming to a storied international gateway. An executive of Australia’s Qantas Airways, which will be the first airline to fly the A380 to Los Angeles and the airport’s biggest international carrier, took the opportunity to confirm his company’s commitment to LAX. Mr Thornton concluded: “None of [my commentary] is to say that the A380 isn’t an engineering marvel. But the party LAX threw for the plane’s visit shouldn’t delude anyone. Our airport has a lot of catching up to do if it plans to be the A380 gateway that airlines want.”

The big new Airbus has American admirers galore, but no buyers as yet

New York’s welcoming ceremony for the double-decker superjumbo Airbus A380 was no less enthusiastic than California’s, and did not induce distress over the physical condition of John F Kennedy International Airport.

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EuroWire – July 2007