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It's hard to do an apples to apples comparison as the A380 was one of the few (only) modern planes to feature a first class. To compare across the same airline
by exidy 6y ago
It's hard to do an apples to apples comparison as the A380 was one of the few (only) modern planes to feature a first class.
To compare across the same airline, SIA long-haul configuration for the A350-900 is 253 pax in 3-class vs 443 in 4-class for the A380, so the A350-900 is carrying 40% fewer people and 1 less class.
Even against the most modern aircraft the A380's fuel consumption per pax per unit distance is likely to be competitive, the problem is filling the thing with people.
- peteretep 6y ago> the A380 was one of the few (only) modern planes to feature a first class You know the seats are at the discretion of the airline, right? There’s no built in A380 first class.
- namdnay 6y agoI think what he means is that first class is now very rare, except on A380s. Comparing the number of seats on an Emirates A380 for example is a bit unfair, because the upper deck is just so luxurious. If you remove the cocktail bar, the showers, and just keep standard business cots on the upper deck, you could probably add a good 20-30 seats
- _-___________-_ 6y agoSeveral airlines in east Asia, as well as BA and probably a few others, have first class on 777s.
- namdnay 6y agoFor the east asian airlines I agree with you. For BA less, their first class is more compact than the business on an Emirates A380, let alone first
- _-___________-_ 6y agoEmirates have First Class on 777s too!
- peteretep 6y ago> I think what he means is that first class is now very rare, except on A380s That would still be wrong. Most decent First Class cabins these days are on 777s: https://onemileatatime.com/best-first-class/ https://onemileatatime.com/best-first-class/
- notahacker 6y agoAs an example, Air Austral had a [cancelled] order for A380 in an all economy configuration, which would have sat 840 people
- exidy 6y agoI didn't say "built", I said "feature", and in response to a comparison with the A350. It's becoming increasingly rare for airlines to configure their planes with first class. However most (possibly all?) A380s were or are configured with first class, making direct comparisons more difficult. Whether first-class exists on the (10 years older) 777 is neither here nor there.
- jabl 6y ago> Even against the most modern aircraft the A380's fuel consumption per pax per unit distance is likely to be competitive Just a few weeks ago here on hn there was a discussion about this. Someone claimed the reasons A380 has poorer fuel economy per pax than A350 or B787 are - older design with less usage of lightweight composites. - older engine design. - wing design constrained by need to fit within 80m box (size of airport gate apparently). - wing design optimized for a lengthened variant (that was never realised).