AIRBUS A380 VISITS ORLANDO AIRPORT

[tezz7628]

From the Orlando Airport website.

10/19/2007 - Orlando International Welcomes the A380 The World's Largest Passenger Aircraft

ORLANDO, FL. - The Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in production, lands at Orlando International Airport (MCO) November 13, 2007. The airport compatibility study and visit to Orlando will last until November 15th.

The arrival of Airbus and the A380 is the culmination of years of hard work to make sure Orlando International Airport stays at the forefront of aviation trends and technology. Four runways and modern airfield improvements and infrastructure are all designed to accommodate the next-generation of large aircraft like the A380.

Orlando International is the first airport in Florida to receive a visit from the French based Airbus A380. The configuration of the visiting A380 is designed to comfortably carry up to 525 passengers in an extra quiet three-class cabin environment. The aircraft in an all economy class seating arraignment can accommodate more than 800 passengers. Commitments have been made for 189 aircraft orders from 16 customers. Future A380 orders have been placed by two carriers currently serving Orlando International including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Lufthansa, which begins service at MCO October 30, 2007, also has pending orders with Airbus for the next-generation large aircraft A380.

Orlando International Airport, the busiest passenger airport in Florida with nearly 35 million passengers annually, is also the best large airport in customer service according to a 2007 Airport Revenue News Magazine survey.

[Robert5988]

Interesting.

I am sure I read recently that Orlando Airport had no plans to build the double decker facilities to handle the A380?? Miami was the only Florida airport to do so.

Given that Orlando is not a 'Flagship' route with lots of business/first class passengers, one wonders is it the intent for Virgin/BA to use the A380 to MCO? Or perhaps use it in a 800 seat economy only configuration.(that will be roughly the same capacity as two 747s)

Unless they improve the facilities to cope with a A380, the time taken to disembark, clear immigration and customs, collect luggage and get rental car will take as long as the flight!!!

[bouncey]

virgin would be able to do only 1 flight per day instead of 2, Im sure there would be considerable savings to be made!

[Ian Dee]

Interesting that Boeing have gone the other way; smaller more fuel efficient planes?

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Interesting that Boeing have gone the other way; smaller more fuel efficient planes?[/quote]

I don't think there is any real difference in the fuel efficiency of the Boeing 787 or Airbus A380 although the Boeing is of course much smaller carrying approx one third of the passengers.

Both claim 3 litres per 100 passenger km - current modern aircraft are around 3.5 litres per 100 passenger km.

There are several variants of the B787 with varying ranges.

The Airbus intends to fly between major cities(hubs) e.g. London/Paris to New York/LA etc. where there is heavy passenger demand.

The Boeing can operate profitably between most provincial cities e.g. Manchester/Glasgow to smaller cities in the USA where there is less traffic(obviously as well as the major city routes)

All I can say is Boeing rarely get it wrong commercially. Not always the case with the Anglo French aircraft industry.(shhh - Mach 2 might read this[msnwink])

[MTP]

It's an interesting approach by both parties to solving different problems, I wonder if both exist. The end result is that they have launched planes sort of in similar markets, but sort of not.

[Tonish]

Personally, whilst I find the technical feat of building this aircraft really impressive, I can't see that travelling on it could be anything less than a nightmare.

Imagine waiting for 799 other people to get through the gate, onto the aircraft and sat down in their seats. And getting off, just think of the queues. How many times has your flight been held up by some idiot who disappears between checking his baggage in and boarding the plane? They've got to find his bags and offload them - already a slow process, only likely to be much worse with double the baggage to sift through. With this aircraft you double or triple the chances of that type of incident happening. You're bound to have to check in earlier just to cope with the numbers and waiting for your bags after the flight is unlikely to be pleasant. 800 rather than 400 standing round the carousel.

Basically, all the things you like least about flying stand a good chance of being double the trouble, at least. My guess is 2 x the passengers = 4 x the aggro.

Go somewhere else with your monster Airbus please.

[domster]

I don't think it would be a nightmare at all. I am sure the extra facilities onboard (better TV;s , facilities etc) would make up for it.

I agree that the immigration the other end would be interesting.

I think they will use these on routes to Australia etc, where it can fly non-stop.

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:I think they will use these on routes to Australia etc, where it can fly non-stop.[/quote]

Non-stop from where?

It can't fly Europe to Australia non-stop; range is approx 8,000 miles.