Wed, Jan 25, 2006
Is The A380 Too Fat To Fly?
And you thought couch-potatoes in America were overweight. Well,
they are... but it turns out they may have something in common with
the Airbus A380.
ABC News quotes industry experts who say the big delays Airbus
announced last year in deliveries of the super-jumbos to its launch
customers were centered on the plane's weight -- far in excess of
the company's one-million pound goal. Not only would that create
big problems at the few airports where the A380 can operate --
runways might buckle under that kind of weight -- but carriers
wouldn't get as much mileage out of the aircraft.
Fuel costs , of course, would go up as well -- not what
engineers or the airlines want to hear right now.
"You've got to get it right," said industry analyst Chris
Partridge. "You get it to the customers as promised. And if you
fail in doing that, then people will vote against you with their
feet and their checkbooks. And they will buy elsewhere."
Airbus has already compensated A380 launch customers --
including Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Emirates -- for missed
delivery times.
To date, the A380 has passed 500 hours in flight tests at the
Airbus plant in Toulouse, France. More testing (exercise?) is
expected before the first A380 is delivered to customers.
If passengers who are too fat to fly have to buy two seats...
does this mean A380 operators will have to buy two gates?
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