A380 – more to come?

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    YellowBelly
    Participant

    BA now has eight A380 planes delivered with 4 more on order I understand. Whilst there are negative comments regarding the BA seating layout compared to rivals, there are many great reviews of the plane in general and it seems popular with passengers.

    As BA retire more B747s will they bite the bullet and order more A380s? If yes will they review the seating layout to compete with Qatar, Emirates, etc? Or will they bottle it with B787 or A350?


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    As reported in this months BT magazine, BA are refurbing more than a few 747’s.. to presumably extend their revenue earning days… and delay replacing with the 380…. OR of course not replace with the 380….


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Hello JonnyEnglish –

    Judging by what Air France and Lufthansa say, it would appear unlikely BA will order further A380s at the present time.

    http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/100892/no-more-a380s-for-air-france-and-lufthansa

    Besides the fact that BA is extending the life of its B747s, as noted above by MartynSinclair, the fact is that the B777-300ER can now accommodate almost as many passengers as an A380. And it’s cheaper to buy, cheaper to operate and can use a wider range of airports.

    BA’s B777-300ER accommodates a comfortable 299 passengers. But Air Canada, Air France and KLM demonstrate this plane’s passenger carrying capacity by installing anything between 425 and 458 seats.

    The new B777X (not yet under construction) is being specially configured to accommodate more passengers. Maybe this is another aircraft which BA will consider as a B747 replacement ?


    LetsFlyNow
    Participant

    Isn’t BA rumoured to take the 2 Skymark A380s in addition to the ones it has on order?


    SimonS1
    Participant

    I would imagine MH could be forced to unload some A380s pretty soon.

    Still I suppose Emirates will happily hoover up any spares.


    BA744fan
    Participant

    With so much talk of MH reviewing their long haul routes it is conceivable that they might drop one of the KUL-LHR flights. BA could then lease 2 of MH’s 6 A380s to fly the route instead of the proposed 777-200.


    travelworld2
    Participant

    According to Flyer Talk, the ninth of BA’s A380 is due for delivery in the first quarter of next year. That aside, there are no more new long haul aircraft due until September 2015, when the first of the B787-9s arrive, Five of these are due by November 2015. The final two of the current firm order for A380s arrive in 2016. The first A350s arrive in 2017.

    According to the same source, for the next 9 months the focus appears to be on the replacement of the B737 fleet at Gatwick with 10 secondhand A320s arriving there for that purpose between now and June 2015.

    As Alex says above, any further A380s on top of those already ordered seem unlikely- but then again if the price is right from MH, who knows…

    .


    cityprofessional
    Participant

    Refitting an A380 that has already been customised for one airline isn’t easy or cheap (remember how long it took to wire them up in the first place?), so my guess is that BA isn’t going to be getting any MH or Skymark ones. Beyond 4-5 US destinations, JNB, HKG and (tenuously) SIN, I’m not sure where you’d put them? India is seasonal and low yield, JFK needs frequency rather than volume, and nothing else has enough premium demand…


    rferguson
    Participant

    BA said from the very beginning that the A380 was only a suitable fit for a select few routes, most of which are already being served by the A380 and I guess the remainder already pencilled in.

    I don’t think BA has the luxury of an Emirates mentality – ‘give us a few more A380’s and we will find somewhere to fly them!’. 🙂

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