What is a flight you would like to see from your local airport?

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by MrKnight

especially with all the A380 orders that Emirates has placed..

While orders for the A380 were never as robust as hoped in 2010 Emirates placed an order for 32 , and in 2011 other airlines ordered 19. Since then the program has veered from bad to utter disaster. Finally in 2013 Emirates placed an unexpectedly high order for 50 A380s to "save the program", bringing their total orders to 140.

Emirates has conceded that the A380 in it's current configuration will not be economically competitive past 2020 when the new B777 are on the market. They have offered Airbus an order for 200 neoA380 to give them an incentive to start the program, but Airbus has not made a final decision. They have received their 65th A380 on August 3rd, 2015.

Should Emirates take all 140 deliveries, they may very well put on on the Orlando route. But if Airbus declines to build the neoA380, Emirates may grow angry and try to cancel the final order of 50 and move on to their replacement.

British Airways is due to receive 3 more A380's, and Air France to receive 2 more. If expansion to the USA by a European airline happens it is more likely to be DFW or Chicago OHare (if they become A380 ready)

Frankfurt A380 to:
Houston (IAH)
Los Angeles (LAX)
Miami (MIA)
New York (JFK)
San Francisco (SFO)

London Heathrow A380 to:
Los Angeles (LAX)
New York (JFK)
San Francisco (SFO)

Paris CDG A380 to:
Los Angeles (LAX)
New York (JFK)
San Francisco (SFO)
Washington DC (IAD)

[jet757f]

I'm so thankful we didn't buy any of those A380s. We came close but cancelled the order.

[MrKnight]

Originally Posted by jet757f

I'm so thankful we didn't buy any of those A380s. We came close but cancelled the order.

I really don't get all the anti-A380 sentiment.. Innovation is a good thing and having these modern high-capacity aircraft in place on high demand long-haul routes makes total sense, not only is it more cost-effective but it also benefits the consumer..

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by MrKnight

I really don't get all the anti-A380 sentiment.. Innovation is a good thing and having these modern high-capacity aircraft in place on high demand long-haul routes makes total sense, not only is it more cost-effective but it also benefits the consumer..

Partly it is just climbing on the schadenfreude bus. Airbus had ridiculously optimistic predictions in 2000 that they would be able to break even by selling only 50 of this model. Today 165 have been delivered, and if all 317 that are on order are actually delivered (snowball's chance in hell), Airbus will still lose billions of dollars.

The other reason is that no airline has configured a low carbon footprint single class plane. Japan Air has a 500 seat configuration on a 777-300ER, while nobody has configured an A380 above 538 seats (although a 615 seat configuration in two classes is promised by December for Emirates on flights to Copenhagen.

The upper deck is approved for up to 315 seats, but most airlines are configuring it without economy seats.
81=2+9+70 Etihad
86=0+86 Singapore Airlines
90=14+76 Emirates
94=0+94 Korean Air
106=8+98 Lufthansa

It does look like it's time has come and gone, with the promise of the Boeing 777max specifications so optimistic, that it looks as if no more orders will be made for the A380, and a significant number of the existing orders will never be delivered.

Emirates is staunch defenders of the airframe, and they have tried to induce Airbus to build a next genertion model by promising an order for 200 planes if they can meet expectation.