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A380

On a trip to the Airbus factory in Toulouse some years ago, proud trechnicians showed us around the mock-up of the giant A380 double-decker. It was beautiful. It had a cocktail bar, done up in pastel colours and soft lighting.

“How many people can it carry?” I asked.

“Oooh,” came the reply and accompanied by a Gallic shrug, “I seenk ze airlines will configure it for six hundred people”.

That was a vague reply at best. After some days of repeated questioning, one technician told me sotto voce that the A380 could probably carry a little under 900 souls, Nine hundred! “Of course,” he added quickly, “no airline would actually do that. Well, not until the bottom fell out of the premium class end of air travel anyway

Today, it appears the age of the immigrant ship has finally come to air travel with the news from London in this morning’s Times that French airline Air Austral is planning to stuff 840 people into its A380 which the airline will operate between France and Reunion.

No double sleeper suites on this baby (like Singapore Airlines has). And certainly no bars. Just 840 people all unbuckling and reaching for their overhead baggage at the same time.

So, how long will it be before some hard-pressed airline tries to beat the recession – and the law of gravity – by trying to shoehorn even more passengers aboard?

PHOTO: An Airbus A380 prototype takes off on a test flight from Toulouse, France. PICTURE: Airbus

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Comments

 

Allan Duff

November 24, 2009 at 7:01 am

Sure, the idea of nearly 1 000 folk in one cigar tube is horriric. Imagine the horror should two of these beasts collide in the air, a loss of 2 000 people in one incident. What new? For decades we have been packed sardine like into tin cans. There is hardly an A320 or B737 aloft that does not already carry squashed and stuffy cargoes of humans. When the B747 first arrived it was just such a horror at the idea of so many in a tight place. Economics, I’m afraid.

 

Paul Ash

November 24, 2009 at 9:26 am

But, like lab rats, we get used to it.

On a serious note, an A380, even with the tightest seat pitch possible, will be unable to ever carry more than 900 people, or so experts tell me.

If you want to see something horrifying, have a look at the possible seating plan for a Blended Wing Body (BWB) airliner. It would be like sitting below decks on the worst kind of sea ferry you can imagine. Google NASA BWB for more information.

 

John Buxton

November 25, 2009 at 12:46 pm

I’ve never been on one but I’ve helped refuel one. The passenger version can take 310,000 lts of jet fuel. half as much again as a 747. Even the tail holds 18 tons of fuel – to perfect the CofG and trim. So, never mind the lack of legroom, just think how much energy you’re sitting next to. Over 10 terajoules. Big braai if the chap at the front slips up.

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  • About

    Stories of highways and airways, rails and boats, life on the open road and stretched-out days on the occasional beach. By day, I am deputy-editor of Sunday Times Travel & Food.