The More-Than-Ample A380 Makes its Maiden Voyage
It’s a sad day for the aging gen-Xer 747, who this morning got the boot as the world largest, operational jumbo jet. There’s a new young punk in town, and it made its debut flight from Singapore to Sydney today.
The Singapore Airlines A380 double-decker behemoth is as tall as a seven-story building, each wing big enough to hold 70 cars (hopefully ones with good emergency brakes!), and could carry 853 passengers if Singapore Airlines hadn’t instead opted for 12 super luxury suites and 60 business class seats, bringing the number down, instead, to a paltry 471. And with some tickets auctioned off for this virgin flight (that’s lower case “v”-–it’s still a Singapore Airlines puppy–-they have exclusive rights to these overgrown lap dogs for ten whole months) for as much as $50,000 each, you can bet they weren’t dining on peanuts and sprite and nursing bruised elbows from aisle carts. Those lucky and rich enough to land themselves a suite enjoyed the privacy of a sliding glass door, a 23-inch flat screen TV , an upholstered leather easy chair, a table, laptop connections, and a separate bed that folds into the wall. On the upper deck, business class passengers had to settle simply for huge seats that turn into big, flat beds, and their own bar area, presumably to drown their sorrows for not being rich enough to afford a suite. Economy…well, I watched the promo video, and they say these lower-class passengers have more room, but I can’t see a huge difference. I’m willing to bet there are still a few unhappy elbows in the aisle seats. Maybe the extra large pretzel bags make up for it?
The real question burning in my mind as a I read about this behemoth of luxury flying the increasingly less friendly skies is…why? Okay yes, it’s certainly a testament to how great we are. Yay us! We can make a seven-story building fly! But honestly, with gas prices at a premium, and the whole airline industry struggling to make ends meet, do we really need this great white whale of an aircraft that carries only a couple more people than the oh-so-last year 747 did? If Singapore had chosen to maximize the increased room the new aircraft affords, it might be a different story–more people in one flight. But instead of a super Greyhound with wings, we now have a flying luxury RV, but with better electronics.
Who knows, maybe an airline will actually make use of the large capacity for something more than rich people who want to eat airborne lobster dinners. There’s hope yet. But so far, the four-engine A380 has received only 165 orders, while its rival, Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a mid-sized, long haul two-engine craft, which offers much greater fuel efficiency, has more than 700. And with a list price of $320 million for the A380, many market analysts are yet to be convinced things will turn around soon. Ultimately, who am I to say what people should or shouldn’t spend their money on? But such over-the-top luxury for a fleeting seven-hour flight at the expense of increased fuel efficiency, or even R&D funds that could have been funneled into developing an aircraft that uses alternative fuel sources, I have no patience for. Don’t even get me started on Hummers.