- Joined
- Jun 2, 2003
- Messages
- 23,587
I believe there will be different versions of that flying cattle wagon. They can actually fit 900 seats. No way I'd set foot on such a prime target.
If you start listing participating nations, then you shouldn't miss any.quote:
You guys!!! Airbus is not just a French Company..
its a Italian Company
French Company
Spanish Company
and a British Company!!!
You'll feel much safer after the full cavity search that all passengers will have to endurequote:
Originally posted by moribundman:
I believe there will be different versions of that flying cattle wagon. They can actually fit 900 seats. No way I'd set foot on such a prime target.
as much as I respect the English and Spanish engineers, i don't think they can ovecome the French and Italian engineering....quote:
Originally posted by moribundman:
If you start listing participating nations, then you shouldn't miss any.quote:
You guys!!! Airbus is not just a French Company..
its a Italian Company
French Company
Spanish Company
and a British Company!!!
![]()
Yes, with a FULL passenger load. How many times have you been on a plane with EVERY seat loaded, and that was not during the holidays?quote:
Originally posted by oilyriser:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0118_050118_airbus.html
"The company says the plane's fuel consumption will be 2.9 liters (0.76 gallon) per passenger per 100 kilometers (60 miles)."
That's 82 mpg/passenger
quote:
Airbus's Giant Jet Makes Its First Flight
New York Times 04/27/05
author: Associated Press
c. 2005 New York Times Company
BLAGNAC, France (AP) - The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, successfully took off on its maiden flight Wednesday, a milestone for aviation and for the European aircraft-maker's battle with American rival Boeing Co.
The giant plane's four engines hauled its double-decked, 308-ton fuselage aloft at 10:29 a.m., an achievement watched by thousands of spectators 101 years after the Wright brothers first mastered controlled, sustained flight.
The plane was carrying a crew of six and 22 tons of on-board test instruments. Its first flight was expected to last between two and four hours.
The plane was likely to stay within 100 miles of the airport in Blagnac, a suburb of Toulouse in southwest France. It was beaming back real-time measurements to Airbus headquarters at Blagnac.
There were cheers and applause as the white jet with a blue tail, its engines surprisingly quiet, picked up speed down the runway and lifted smoothly into the blue skies. Fire trucks were stationed alongside the runway as a precaution.
Airbus chief test pilot Jacques Rosay, flight captain Claude Lelaie and four fellow crew members were taking no chances. Airbus had said they would be wearing parachutes during the first flight, in accordance with company policy. A handrail leads from the cockpit to an escape door that can be jettisoned if the pilots lose control of the plane.
The flight capped 11 years of preparation and $13 billion in spending.
The A380, with a catalogue price of $282 million, represents a huge bet that international airlines will need bigger aircraft to transport passengers between ever-busier hub airports.
But some analysts say signs of a boom in the market for smaller wide-body planes, such as Boeing's long-range 787 ''Dreamliner,'' show that Airbus was wrong to focus so much time and money on its superjumbo.
quote:
Airbus A380 Jet Airplane Takes Off On Maiden Flight
The Wall Street Journal 04/27/05
author: Rod Stone / Dow Jones
(Copyright (c) 2005, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
LONDON -- Marking an important milestone for manufacturer Airbus (ABI.YY), a double-decker A380 airliner Wednesday successfully took off on its maiden flight from Airbus' plant near Toulouse, France early Wednesday, television news footage showed.
The plane - able to carry at least 550 passengers and is larger than Boeing Co.'s (BA) best-selling 747 - is key for the fortunes of Airbus as it looks to remain the world's leading airplane maker. The maiden flight was originally expected to take place in the first quarter of 2005.
Airbus has so far received 154 orders and commitments for the plane, which is backed by a $10.7 billion investment program. However, it needs to get 225-275 orders to break even on the project, but this could rise if the dollar remains weak for a long period of time.
Airbus is jointly owned by European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. (5730.FR) and U.K. defense contractor BAE Systems PLC (BA.LN).
Costing about $280 million each, the A380 is designed to carry passengers between major hub airports such as London's Heathrow, New York's JFK or Singapore's Changi, where they can connect to other regional flights if needed. Boeing is meanwhile developing the 250-300 seat 787 Dreamliner plane which is designed to fly point-to-point and avoid congested hub airports.
The A380 testing program is expected to last over a year with the first A380 scheduled to go into service with customer Singapore Airlines Ltd. (S55.SG) in the second half of 2006.
Company Web site: http://www.airbus.com
Exactly. The long distance flights to Asia/Pacific rim are usually totally full; I've heard a few people say with the current infrastructure there is alomst a lack of supply in essence for passenger capacity for Flights from say, LA/NewYork to Hong Kong/Tokyo etc. GLOABALIZATIONquote:
Originally posted by kenw:
"Yes, with a FULL passenger load. How many times have you been on a plane with EVERY seat loaded, and that was not during the holidays?"
actually quite often on the flights to/from the far east, in/out of Singapore especially altho it's been a few years since I made that awful trip. DFW-Narita was often full. Narita to Singapore was almost always full. LA- Taiwan was always full.
There may have been a few empties but rarely more than a dozen or so. That's the market, albeit limited, that the A380 is intended for.
It's not for the Atlanta-Greenville hop.
quote:
A-I deal: Airbus seeks CVC probe
Times of India 04/28/05
NEW DELHI: Air-India's nearly $7-billion aircraft acquisition proposal is fast emerging as the reason for a major war of words between the maharaja and European aircraft maker Airbus Industrie, which lost the deal to US-based rival Boeing.
A day after the deal was finalised in favour of Boeing, blames and counter-blames flew in the domestic skies with Airbus even seeking an independent investigation into the deal by Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
Accusing the state-owned airline of twisting bidding norms to give Boeing an upper hand in the deal, Airbus V-P sales (India) Nigel Harwood said: "Airbus is writing to CVC requesting that all the documents pertaining to the A-I deal be sent to the CVC for a transparent and independent evaluation."
Stating that the CVC had earlier evaluated the $2-billion Indian Airlines deal - that was awarded to Airbus - and vetted that proposal, Harwood said: "The whole (A-I) deal is skewed and an independent enquiry would prove it."
The European conglomerate has charged A-I with changing the bidding norms after the issuance of request for proposal in order to give Boeing an upper hand in the deal.
A-I, in a statement late on Wednesday evening, rubbished the charges stating that it has not deviated even one bit from the specifications prescribed in the Request For Proposal (RFP), as has been alleged.
"Their (Airbus') contention that A-I has gone for 9 abreast seating cannot be held valid as the prerogative of deciding on the seats, its specifications, etc vests with the airline and not with the manufacturer. This is the standard practice followed by all in the business," an A-I spokesman said.
Airbus also accused A-I of not including its future models A350 and A380 in the deal whole allowing Boeing to pitch with the B787. "We were also never allowed to give presentations on our product, our analysis or even present our facts. On the other hand, Boeing was allowed to make these presentations. So, we are questioning the basis of this deal's evaluation," Harwood said.
A-I, however, termed this allegation untrue saying: "All manufacturers were given an option to make a presentation. This option was exercised by Boeing, GE, etc... However, Airbus sent a letter seeking a meeting with the techno-economic negotiating committee to discuss issues relating to aircraft evaluation process. At no stage did Airbus make use of this opportunity to make a product presentation."
The A380, as I understand it, has engines from a company called CFM. This is a joined cooperative group of Snecma and General Electric.quote:
who makes the engines for the A380?
the only engine makesr I know are Rolls Royce, GE (Same as Pratt/Whitney?)