=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2008/08/05/MNSU124J58= .DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, August 5, 2008 (SF Chronicle) Emirates' decked-out A380 jet drops by SFO Ilana DeBare, Chronicle Staff Writer (08-04) 19:57 PDT -- This is how the other half flies. Showers in plane bathrooms with temperature-controlled floors. Twenty-three-inch screens with 1,200 channels of audio and video entertainment. Sleeping compartments with built-in makeup mirrors and mini-bars that recede at the touch of a button. Emirates Airlines took about 200 Bay Area travel industry VIPs on a two-hour demonstration flight on Monday of its new Airbus A380 - a giant, two-level plane that is the state of the art in luxury flight. Not only were they above the fog, they were on Cloud Nine. "I've never seen an aircraft like this - it feels like you're in a cruise ship," said Mark Ludwig, CEO of AirTreks, a San Francisco travel agency. At a time when U.S. airlines are staggering under high fuel costs and socking passengers with fees for everything from luggage to drinking water, Emirates Airlines is leading a wave of investment by international airlines in high-end aircraft. Airbus, the European plane manufacturer, has orders for about 200 A380s, which can carry more passengers with greater fuel efficiency than other large planes such as Boeing 747s. Fifty-eight of those orders are from Emirates at a cost per plane of abo= ut $327 million. Emirates brought one of its new 489-passenger planes to the Bay Area both to show off its cutting-edge features and to promote the airline's plans to start service between San Francisco International Airport and Dubai in December. However, initially there won't be any A380s on the San Francisco-Dubai route. They will be limited to service between New York and Dubai, while San Francisco will be served by Boeing 777s that carry 266 passengers. "We are going to walk before we run, starting with aircraft with 200-odd seats," said Nigel Page, senior vice president of Emirates Airlines. For travelers used to the cattle-car feeling that accompanies much American flight these days, Monday's demo flight felt like something from another era. Passengers boarded through three jet bridges - two to the 399-seat econo= my section on the first level and another to the 14 first-class and 76 business-class seats on the second level. First-class passengers are given "suites" - chest-high compartments with seats that open into beds. They have access to a self-serve bar and to two 4-by-10-foot bathrooms with showers that last up to five minutes. "This is bigger than the bathroom at my house, and more nicely appointed= ," said Howard Simon, a biotech executive at Intermune in Brisbane. Emirates officials said putting showers on an airplane posed some logistical challenges, partly due to the weight of the water. "We initially were thinking about recycled water, but we know many people don't appreciate recycled water in their shower," said Adel Al-Redha, executive vice president for engineering at Emirates. Business-class passengers get cubicle-like compartments with fold-out be= ds that provide a surprising sense of space and privacy. Economy passengers have regular airline seats, albeit somewhat wider than average. "Economy is economy," one travel agent said. But all three classes get the 1,200 channels of audio and video - including 60 channels of newly released movies, 20 of classics, 30 of Disney movies, 27 of Arabic-language movies, and others with movies in Urdu, Farsi, Tagalog and Sinhala. And all three classes share a nifty feature: live video streams from cameras mounted on the nose, underside and tail of the plane. Of course, these perks all have a price - namely, $14,000 for first clas= s, $9,000 for business class and $1,500 for economy on a typical round trip between New York and Dubai. Some attendees wondered if they were watching the airline industry splinter into two separate worlds serving "haves" and "have-nots." "I think there's a market for this, but there's nobody left in the middle - it's just people with money and people without money," Simon said. Some also wondered quietly how Emirates - which is owned by the governme= nt of Dubai but run like a private business - could manage to invest $18 billion in new luxury planes while American airlines are dropping like flies. Emirates officials said they receive no government subsidies or discount= ed fuel prices. They benefit, they said, from not having to serve short but expensive domestic routes, and from the fuel efficiency of their relatively new fleet. "It's really unfair to compare us with major U.S. domestic airlines, sin= ce we don't operate domestically in the U.S. and our fleet is only 5 years old," said Page. One big, fancy plane $327 million Cost of one A380 489 Number of passengers it carries 239 Length, in feet (the wingspan is 261 feet, and the plane is 80 feet high) 58 Number ordered by Emirates Airlines (other airlines have ordered about 140) 14 Number of first-class compartments 2 Number of showers onboard 4 Number of years it took to build $14,000 Cost of a first-class, round-trip ticket from New York to Dubai (a business-class ticket costs $9,000, economy class $1,500) Source: Emirates Airlines; Chronicle research E-mail Ilana DeBare at idebare@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------= ---------------------------------------------- Copyright 2008 SF Chronicle <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".