Double decker airplanes..the future?

[brizzle]

As someone pointed out, if it was Boeing then they'd all be set up for the A380 faster than you could say 'biased'..
..since it's Airbus then I can't see too many people helping it along too much.

Brizzle the cynic.

[John Rocke]

there is an article in the Orlando Sentinel saying that millions of dollars are being spent at orlando Airport (MCO) to accommodate the new "big birds" as they call them.

jr

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote: there is an article in the Orlando Sentinel saying that millions of dollars are being spent at orlando Airport (MCO) to accommodate the new "big birds" as they call them.
[/quote]

There was a list of airports in a UK newspaper which didn't mention any Florida airport. Although the report obviously could be incorrect.

Did the Orlando Sentinel say the "Big Birds" were the Airbus? or could it be the new Boeing?

[ORLANDO_MAGIC]

Stretching nearly the length of a football field, Airbus' new A380 "superjumbo" jet will be the biggest thing flying when it enters service in about a year.

Built to carry 555 people in three classes on two decks, the A380 is big enough for extras such as conference rooms, private cabins, even casinos.

But a plane that big can't land at just any airport.

It needs runways that are 50 feet wider than typical landing strips. It needs wider taxiways, and boarding gates with extra bridges to handle the crowds.

So, in the United States, big airports from Orlando to Los Angeles are spending hundreds of millions of dollars getting ready for it.

Orlando International's executive director says airports that can handle the larger plane may attract more international traffic, which fell sharply with the recession and terrorist hijackings of 2001 and has been slow to recover.

Virgin Atlantic, which will outfit its A380s with extras such as casinos and gyms, is the only carrier with service to Orlando that has announced plans to use the planes on some routes to the United States. The airline has ordered six of the aircraft for delivery beginning in 2008, with options on six more.

In the United States, Virgin will operate the A380 at first on flights to Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. It may eventually use A380s on its Orlando routes, but a spokeswoman says the airline doesn't have a timetable.

The aircraft, in the works since 2000, won't be ready for delivery for about a year.

So far, no U.S. passenger airline has ordered the plane, which was unveiled Tuesday in a lavish ceremony at Airbus' headquarters in Toulouse, France.

U.S. couriers UPS and FedEx have ordered the A380, but an Orlando airport spokeswoman said it isn't clear yet whether either would use the plane in Orlando.

Orlando International, built on the site of a former Air Force base, has a wide runway that was originally built to allow big military planes and can handle the A380.

But it still plans to spend about $20 million on improvements such as wider taxiways and an additional loading bridge.

Ordinarily, fliers leave a plane through a single bridge, or jetway, but airport Executive Director Bill Jennings said the A380 needs at least two.

"It would take too long to get 600 people off through one door," he said.

Jennings said Orlando's airport also could attract A380 service from additional carriers if other U.S. airports can't accommodate the larger planes.

But officials at several major airports say they will be ready.

Miami International also has a runway wide enough to handle the A380. Three of the airport's carriers -- Virgin, Air France and Lufthansa -- have ordered the plane, though none has announced plans for service to Miami, airport spokesman Marc Henderson said.

[Nostromo]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by brizzle
As someone pointed out, if it was Boeing then they'd all be set up for the A380 faster than you could say 'biased'..
..since it's Airbus then I can't see too many people helping it along too much.

Brizzle the cynic.
[/quote]

I think you are right to some extent, Brizzle. Boeing do have a longer 'time tested' record in people's minds for one thing. Secondly, Airbus' marketing tactics are often questionable - treating Air Travel a shade too frivolously in some people's opinion. Also, that documantary not too long ago about Airbus using some kind of glorified superglue to stick their wings on the the main fuslage could not have come at the wrong time. The A380 may be using a different sort of technology, but the damage could have been done already.

A lot of Pilots (not all of them American) have said publicly that they feel safer in a Boeing than an Airbus, particularly for long haul flights.

So you are probably right in thinking that the A380 will struggle to find its place and the fact that it is an Airbus and not a Boeing will play a significant part in that struggle.

[Robert5988]

Orlando Magic,
Thanks for that - it ties up with the report in the UK press to some extent, in that no airline has plans to fly them into Florida yet.

Given that Virgin don't take delivery of their first planes until 2008, and have already allocated them on other routes, it looks like we won't see them in Orlando until well into the next decade.

Robert

[benfilo]

I have heard some reports about pilot's concerns about the 380 but they were to do with longer flying times not the airworthyness of the aircraft. I don't think there is a glue exsisting that would hold a wing on, I would imagine glues are used to bond skins on,but would be used in conjunction with bols and rivets (I used to work there but I am just guessing as I haven't looked it up).
And back on the subject of pilot's comments on safety I bet it's got nothing to do with dirty tricks by rival airlines.
It was also mentioned on the news that they weren't sure if it would fly, which was a really stupid thing to say. If the wings are the right shape and enough thrust is applied then it'll take off , doesn't matter how big it is.

still hate flying all the same[msnscared]

[markandpam]

Have to say I feel slightly nervous flying on any Airbus, always have done for some reason. A few years ago when I booked my flights I would ask what plane it was and would change if it was an Airbus. I have a friend who is an aircraft engineer and they have a saying in the field.."If it ain't Boeing I ain't going". I think I would rather not know why they say that! [msnscared]

Pam.

[benfilo]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by markandpam
Have to say I feel slightly nervous flying on any Airbus, always have done for some reason. A few years ago when I booked my flights I would ask what plane it was and would change if it was an Airbus. I have a friend who is an aircraft engineer and they have a saying in the field.."If it ain't Boeing I ain't going". I think I would rather not know why they say that! [msnscared]

Pam.
[/quote]

they've stopped saying that since I left[msnwink]

UPS and fedex have loads of planes from airbus, a lot of them are A300's an old plane but still being built. companies like that can't afford to have planes that aren't reliable. However it was a 300 that went down in that Tom Hanks film Cast Away [msnscared]

[Nostromo]

There was a TV documentary a few months ago on Discovery Wings channel where they featured a mid-air accident involving an Airbus that occured a few years ago. In it, the aircraft was subject to severe low level windshear effects due to the turbulance created by another plane taking off a few minutes earlier. The result was that both wings of the Airbus snapped off completely and the plane crashed, killing everyone on board. The investigation that followed blamed the new bonding substance that Airbus had used to fix the wings to the fuselage instead of the usual rivets. Of course, Airbus Industire vehemently protested against the verdict, but in subsequent interviews, a lot of Pilots went on air (many of them British) to declare that they felt that they felt Boeings were safer in the air than Airbuses.

I am not a technician and have no idea if this is true or not. But the fact remains that a lot of pilots and enginners feel that way and that is good enough for me. Although I won't refuse to fly on an Airbus, I always feel safer in a Boeing.