There is already a model A380 flying (in Etihad colours) but the first A380 commercial service of Singapore Airlines, has just arrived in London, LHR. Not the most elegant of airliners but still a magnificent site.

Wings made in England (Chester) as are the engines, Trents, by Rolls Royce from Derby.

Aviation is moving on and with oil at 110 dollars a barrel and rising, , the A380s appeal can only improve !

Regards, David Gladwin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvR1Oe6CfoQ

David,
What was with the spray going onto the plane?
Don

The water spray is a ritual salute / celebration sometimes used for inaugural flights, or a captain's last flight before retiring, etc.

On a smaller and more personal scale, dousing the pilot (not the plane) used to be (and may still be) used to salute a "first solo flight" in the RAF etc.


David - the gas savings sound appealing, but how many flights does it take to cover the 1 billion dollars that it supposedly cost to rework LHR for the 380's ?

It was a water cannon greeting from the fire crews, hope they didn't induce a flameout ! Good water ingestion test tho!
Last seen at LHR when Concorde was retired. Great day for Heathrow which has had its share of knocks recently , including the 777 accident, which as I said in that post, STILL no-one knows the cause, it seems, although speculation continues on some form of fuel icing.

Billion dollars, NEVER heard that amount, just for A380 upgrade mods. but over 800 m for badly needed upgrades to accomodate more large aiircraft inc the 380 and that includes pax and baggage handling. If you've used LHR recently you will know the upgrades are urgently needed and everyone will benefit from the work. New T5 opening very shortly.

Regards,

David.

Inaugural flight arrival salute. Only for noteworthy events.

I wondered about that. I am assuming the flight crew are aware of this ahead of time? It seemed like a lot of water was poured on to it.

I was thinking if it was nice and clean and then they land and now it's wet and dirty! Heheheh...
Don

When I flew in P-3s, we would go through a quick rinse to get off the corrosive salt we picked up from flying low over the water. We would regularly wash the aircraft as well. There were always plane washing days on the carrier as well. But for the A380, it was a salute.

According to the BBC news, the overall cost of terminal 5 is about 9 billion dollars ; the cost of pier 6 which is solely for docking 4 A-380's is about $211 million, and then other work to allow the use of the 380 cost in excess of $682 million dollars. This included : "Runways had to be resurfaced, lighting upgraded and taxiways changed in preparation for the A380."

Now, that doesn't mean that other aircraft don't see some benefit from better lighting, surfaces, etc - but at least according to the BBC this work was necessary in order for LHR to accept & support the 380.

I'm not trying to knock the aircraft with the above - just wondering what the REAL cost/benefit analysis comes out to. Kinda like when one of my work-mates boasted about how much money he was saving with his Toyta Prius ... looking only at the mpg figures he has me beaten, but when we factored in him paying well over sticker price to get it, and what the actual per-year cost is including depreciation etc., I would have had to travel tens of thousand of miles further than he in order to have the same REAL costs over the 4 year period that each of us tends to keep his car.

I have no idea how the lifetime of a runway & taxiway surfaces varies according to the traffic - does one extra heavy aircraft contribute more or less wear & tear / damage than two smaller aircraft carrying the same # passengers ? Hopefully someone has done the math(s), so I'm simply nosey about where the break-even point for some of the investment is anticipated to be. (Note "anticipated", since things like fuel costs 3 years from now probably can't be reliably estimated).

From a purely personal point of view though, my 'make or break' point for whether I would choose to fly on a 380 or something smaller, is currently less to do with it's operating costs than what the "time" costs would be associated with it. I already do several flights where it takes longer to get everyone on and off the plane and then get my luggage than it takes to fly to where I am going. The 380 promises to exaccerbate these problems to an unacceptable level if the airports' solutions for more 'peaked' passenger traffic are inadequate, so I will be watching with interest to see how well these issues have been addressed in general, and how various new airline policies make the issues better or worse. (e.g. United's stupid policy of charging for a second check-in bag ... all this means is that more & more people will try to carry on ridiculously oversized bags in addition to their 3 existing bags, 2 guitar cases and 3 boxes of live maine lobster ; as a result, people will be slower to board as they hunt for space and stow all those extra bags.)

Gordon

As Heathrow is a commercially operated airport which makes a substantial profit every year, I guess the calculations HAVE been done and you are seeing the results in terms of the spend. It may be that some or all of the costs of 380 preparation will be recovered thro increased landing/ parking charges for the 380. T5 is opening very shortly and that will have A380 stands and loading facilities.

The A380 IS the future for long haul dense route flying , which is why BA has bought them and Qantas has increased their order. Passenger reviews I have heard are excellent and the first 380 has been operating into SYD with extreme punctuality, quite outstanding for a new and complex type. Probably just a matter of time befor the ER version will be flying SYD-LHR non stop, saving a couple of hours or more, so IF the unloading time is slightly more the net saving is well worthwhile. However, still not so sure about extended boarding , unloading times. The big bus is a double decker so may well be quicker to load/unload two 270 seat decks via two levels of airbridge than a single 400 seater 747 via one door as so often happens.

As LHR has had so much, deserved, bad press recently at least they ARE making a substantial investment in the future.

Regards, David Gladwin.

Seen it, walked under, kicked the tires, took pictures of it at SFO a few months ago, All I can say " Fat dude"............. next. [:-]

That was great!!