Ask the pilot
Why the biggest airplane ever is not such a huge deal, really. Also, big news for New York-Lagos commuters.

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By Patrick Smith

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You're probably wondering about the A380, the new Airbus \ufffdberjumbo rolled out to much fanfare this week in Toulouse, France. Baseline model of the double-decked behemoth will have legs for about 8,000 nautical miles. Naturally, perhaps, first in line for the A380 is Singapore Airlines. Initial deployment will be to London and Sydney in the second quarter of 2006.

Regulars to these pages know of my ambivalence toward the A380, and the much-awaited uncurtaining ceremony was something I'd anticipated with equal measures of excitement and clenched teeth. First and foremost the plane is [link|http://www.airliners.net/open.file/760641/M/|ugly] -- a ponderous giant with none of the elegance of the Boeing 747, the airliner it will soon supplant as world's biggest after a 35-year reign. And while the A380's assorted superlatives and technological innovations are certainly worthy of marvel -- it will be the first civil transport with a gross maximum takeoff weight exceeding a million pounds -- accolades like "milestone" and "revolutionary" are undue.

When the 747 debuted with Pan Am in 1970, it was over twice the size of its largest existing competitors, the single-aisle Douglas DC-8 and Boeing 707, and was able to carry three times the number of passengers. By comparison the A380 will outlift the 747-400, its closest rival, by only about 30 percent, over roughly equal distances. It has \ufffda tail as tall as a seven-story building," gushed an Associated Press reporter from the party in Toulouse. Incredible, yes. And but one story taller than the 64-foot fin of the 747. Unlike the venerable Boeing, or for that matter the Concorde, there's nothing so fundamentally radical about the A380.

The plane's most impressive aspects aren't its girth and power but its architecture and onboard systems. With dual auxiliary power units and multiple fail-safe components, Airbus has built an aircraft almost guaranteed never to cancel or divert. With several hundred passengers aboard and a limited number of airports able to accept A380 operations, nearly perfect reliability will be crucial.

Those airport restrictions, by the way, are mainly a function of logistics -- gate and terminal space, loading equipment, etc. -- and not runway limits. The ship's average landing speed will be no different from that of the A320 (about 145 knots), a fifth of its size, and under most conditions will require less runway than a 747.

A typical three-class arrangement offers seating for approximately 540 people, and fuselage mockups have proposed extravagances like bars, duty-free boutiques and nurseries. Such frills, argue cynics, are bound to go the way of those piano lounges found in the upper decks of the original 747, destined to be swapped out for additional rows of seats. (An all-economy A380 would have room for 800 passengers, versus about 580 for the highest-density version of the 747.)

Chances are that's overly pessimistic, for the trend these days is toward increasingly swanky perks, particularly in the premium cabins. The 747 emerged in a time when flights rarely exceeded about nine hours\ufffd duration. With 14-, 15-, even 18-hour trips now commonplace, the art of perfecting long-haul satisfaction needs a higher, more permanent standard. Boutiques and spas may be wishful thinking, but in an era when fully flat sleepers have become de rigueur even in business class, you can expect luxurious, cutting-edge amenities in the forward rows, and a modicum of improvements in the back as well. Economy is planned as a 10-abreast layout, just as one encounters on 747s. With a cabin width about 13 inches greater overall, that gives the traveler 1.3 additional inches per seat.

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