This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ IN AMERICA - now playing in select cities IN AMERICA has audiences across the country moved by its emotional power. This Holiday season, share the experience of this extraordinary film with everyone you are thankful to have in your life. Ebert & Roeper give IN AMERICA "Two Thumbs Way Up!" Watch the trailer at: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/inamerica \----------------------------------------------------------/ On the Road: Airbus Superjumbo Jet Is Only a Mockup, for Now December 2, 2003 By JOE SHARKEY TOULOUSE, France EVERYBODY agrees that the A380 is a whale of a plane, but that may in fact be the problem. The whaleness, that is. The superjumbo A380, scheduled for commercial service in early 2006 and currently represented at the Airbus headquarters here as a life-size mockup, is a tubby behemoth of a plane that looks like it might have easily digested both a 747 and a 737 for lunch, with plenty of room left for dessert. In a month or so, ships and trucks will start arriving at the sprawling A380 assembly plant here carrying wings, fuselages and engines made elsewhere in Europe. Airbus will then begin putting together the huge new jetliner, for which the company says it already has 129 orders (retail price: $270 million each). Last week, Airbus invited reporters to its headquarters for an update on the progress of the plane, as well as a look at the mockup and the new assembly line. Suffice to say that the A380 is really, really big, even in comparison with the current jumbo of the sky, the Boeing 747, first introduced in the 1970's. The A380 has a wing span of 261 feet, 50 feet longer than the 747. Because its fuselage is designed with two full decks from fore to aft, it also has 49 percent more floor space than a 747. That means it will hold a lot more passengers. Airbus promotes the A380 as having a capacity of 555 passengers. That's 139 more passengers than the 747 carries. But Airbus executives concede that the A380 will actually be able to carry more than 800 passengers, if an airline decides to really pack them in. How this airplane is going to be configured with seats once it takes to the skies in 2006 is one of the mysteries of the A380 program. Another is whether the world's major airports will be prepared to handle the plane. For airports, preparing for the A380 requires substantial modifications to runways, taxiways and terminal gates. For example, BAA, the company that operates Heathrow International Airport in London, says it will spend more than $750 million over the next 10 years to accommodate the A380 at Heathrow, where BAA estimates the plane will account for about one in every eight flights by 2016. Boeing 747's, which the Airbus believes will be rendered obsolete by the A380, now account for one in nine Heathrow flights. As this plane nears introduction in a little over two years, there will be plenty of opportunities for the news media to evaluate the potentially profound changes in long-haul air service - not to mention the implications for Airbus's rival Boeing - that are posed by the A380. For me, a person whose main interest in aviation is having a comfortable place to sit, I have to say I fixed with some horror on that little figure of 800 or more potential passengers. Even at the 555 passenger figure Airbus likes to use, I still shudder at the thought of being the middle cow in a five-across row in the cattle car. Luckily, at lunch at the Airbus headquarters last week, I found myself sitting next to the only major airline executive present, Richard Branson, the chairman of Virgin Atlantic, an airlines that spends a lot of time thinking about how to balance revenue with passenger comfort. Sir Richard is an affable guy who loves to talk, so I figured it was going to be a cinch to get him to spill the beans on what Virgin's version of the A380 will look like in terms of seating. Virgin has ordered six A380's. Ten commercial airlines (as well a cargo carrier, FedEx) have so far placed orders for 129 of the A380's. The biggest customers to date are Emirates (41 planes), Lufthansa (15), Qantas Airways (12), and Air France and Singapore Airlines (10 each). None of the airlines that have discussed their likely use of the plane have suggested they plan on flying more than 555 seats, and several have hinted they hope to use the airplane's space to introduce new passenger amenities, like walk-up lounges and perhaps duty-free shops, even in coach. But you never know. Virgin's Sir Richard warmed to the subject quickly. He said Virgin planned to operate its A380's with a maximum of 524 seats in three classes. These are its highly regarded business-class cabin, called Upper Class Suites; its premium economy class cabin, which provides more legroom and better service at a higher price than standard coach; and, of course, its lowest-priced coach cabin. All that extra space, "certainly gives you the opportunity to do innovative things in the cabin," he said, adding, "The challenge is how do you do economy class, how do you configure it?" Among the innovations to consider in any move to make the back of the plane a more comfortable place, he said, was a better use of "the space taken up by the galleys" for food preparation. He began to discuss an idea for in-flight "self-service" food counters, and the notion that reducing the need for galleys would provide the space to allow passengers to amble about and perhaps get their own meals in coach, cafeteria-style. "You want to elaborate on that?" I asked. He evidently did, and would have, except that Paul Moore, Virgin's cordial director for corporate affairs, shot him a stricken look from down the table. Sir Richard promptly clammed up. "Sorry," he said. "Got to wait on that." On the Road appears each Tuesday. E-mail: jsharkey@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/business/02road.html?ex=1071374098&ei=1&en=cf936c57abbab974 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. 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