As were these two blokes in the real things,that would have been great to experience....
The sound was unmistakable but I missed the planes as I was fixing the pool filter .... Gary had failed to show up
Sorry mate Greg’s spa took longer than expected. Filled up a 6 cubic meter skip with Ian’s toys amongst other things. ...
Yeah I think this virus will change the Airline industry forever JM....The large aircraft have seen their day unfortunately...
Image Unavailable, Please Login The first 747 I ever saw was in Hawaii .... they just looked massive and it didn't seem possible for a skyscraper to get off the ground
You will find a lot of Airlines will never recover from this JM...Long term prospects will be more expensive airfares for end users...
They were the best JM...I did nearly 10,000 hours on the 747 200, 300 , 400 and ERF variants... Queen of the sky’s.....
They are just a massive object !!! Image Unavailable, Please Login Compared to our "little" F-111s Image Unavailable, Please Login
Why do you think it spells the end of large aircraft? Things will go back to normal one day. There may be less airlines around, but the number of people travelling will get back to where it was, surely, and won't the large planes be needed as much as they ever were? Or were they never needed and never economical?
They have died a natural death PP...When I first started flying the jumbos were everywhere...Now it’s the large twins ruling the sky because people want frequency...The 380 never lived up to its expectations and you can’t give them away...Bit like owning a Mondial...
So the 380 is out and the dreamliner is in? The 380 is pretty awesome. As a passenger, best I've been in. What were the expectations they didn't live up to?
I remember a doco that came out many years ago when the giants of the sky first turned up and they were talking bigger and bigger but never mentioned frequency , which makes perfect sense in a way
In the past 6 months the 2 x A380's have already been cut up for scrap (this was before CV 19) because there was no secondary market for these ex-lease planes. As Gary said, the demand is for more frequent flights in slighly smaller planes ( large twins) which are cheaper to operate. A 380 needs to be nearly full to cover costs, and that's hard to do on all but the most major routes. The CV19 shakeup will speed up the retirement of these planes, I'd be surprised if any are still in service in 10 years time. Typically planes retired from first tier carriers are bought by charter companies or 2nd or 3rd tier airlines or used for freight operations, but the 380 isn't attractive to those operators. The 747-400 is just about gone now too. https://www.flightglobal.com/mro/fuselage-of-first-airline-a380-recycled-into-identity-tags/136812.article
100% Mike...Singapore Airlines made more money on a 3 hr 20 min sector from HongKong to Singapore fully loaded than it did flying them long haul....It was a white elephant from the start as Emirates found out early on with their massive order of 777-300ERs( and they are launch customers of the 777X )...
I don’t know about anyone else but I hate the 380... crappy seats , noisy - even new they seemed like a backward step from the 747... I remember before they were actually built they were supposed to be spacious (were going to have a gym and bars etc) but by the time they actually got into service they were just crappy sardine cans.
I've only been in it once, but it was easily the most spacious and quiet aeroplane I've been on. How do you get two different experiences on the same plane? Confusing!
Did you ever fly these planes regularly enough to notice the differences? Flying HK - Aus every 6 weeks for a few years tends to focus one’s notice on the surroundings...
Well, whilst it's had been a little time since off been in a 747, I flew 777 and 380 back to back, and it was like chalk and cheese in favour of the 380. Friend of mine who fly a lot thought the 380 was a step above the 747 with respect to noise and space too. Shrug!
We’ve been on an A380 probably 12-14 times. In fact we have flown SingaporeAir to ensure we get an A380. In my mind, absolutely brilliant. To be fair, we were in Business Class for all but 2 of those flights and I’ve no doubt that does make a difference. Probably a big difference. Have always disembarked feeling really good. Haven’t been on a Dreamliner yet, but I’ve heard they’re a bit quieter and return up to 25% better fuel economy than an A380 due to being significantly lighter, so cheaper to run fuel wise anyway. I can’t talk to any other cost parameters. Perhaps a Pilot can chime in with some real world facts.
Love Emirates 380's, perhaps 12 returns to BCN in the last 10 years. Lots of space, lots of bubbles. A guy sitting one space seat away from me said that there was enough fresh fruit, seafood etc underneath from Auckland that they didn't need pax to pay for the flight.
