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It does work very well for certain parts of the world, like the Gulf carriers (hence why Emirates has so many). For the US and inter-Europe, totally uneconomica

It does work very well for certain parts of the world, like the Gulf carriers (hence why Emirates has so many). For the US and inter-Europe, totally uneconomical but not everywhere. With newer engines and a slightly redesigned wing (if I recall correctly it was designed a bit oversized than what was needed for the -800, to be able to accommodate a stretch variant which was never introduced) it could probably be made to have 15% lower fuel burn per passenger which would make it work even better for those specific kind of routes, but it's not economical for Airbus to do that when only Emirates and a very small handful of other customers would buy it...

mmooss 2y ago
> It does work very well for certain parts of the world, like the Gulf carriers (hence why Emirates has so many). I know they purchased many, but how did it work out for their bottom lines? Also, are these carriers concerned with bottom lines as much as national prestige?
- rob74 2y ago
  Seems to work out pretty well: https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/emirates-group-announces-2023-24-results https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/emirates-group-announc... "Emirates reports new record profit of AED 17.2 billion (US$ 4.7 billion), up 63% from AED 10.6 billion (US$ 2.9 billion) last year." ...of course it helps to have direct access to cheap fuel. Also, if you look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_airlines_in_the_world#Scheduled_passenger-kilometers_flown_(billions) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_airlines_in_the_world#..., you'll see that Emirates is the fourth largest individual airline in the world by passenger-kilometers, and the first three are US-based airlines with more complicated networks, while Emirates only has one major hub in Dubai and isn't really that into direct A-to-B flights (unless B is Dubai of course) - so if it makes sense for any airline to operate the A380, then that airline is Emirates.

mmooss 2y ago

> It does work very well for certain parts of the world, like the Gulf carriers (hence why Emirates has so many). I know they purchased many, but how did it work out for their bottom lines? Also, are these carriers concerned with bottom lines as much as national prestige?

rob74 2y ago
Seems to work out pretty well: https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/emirates-group-announces-2023-24-results https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/emirates-group-announc... "Emirates reports new record profit of AED 17.2 billion (US$ 4.7 billion), up 63% from AED 10.6 billion (US$ 2.9 billion) last year." ...of course it helps to have direct access to cheap fuel. Also, if you look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_airlines_in_the_world#Scheduled_passenger-kilometers_flown_(billions) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_airlines_in_the_world#..., you'll see that Emirates is the fourth largest individual airline in the world by passenger-kilometers, and the first three are US-based airlines with more complicated networks, while Emirates only has one major hub in Dubai and isn't really that into direct A-to-B flights (unless B is Dubai of course) - so if it makes sense for any airline to operate the A380, then that airline is Emirates.