Thank you, Dago. I don't claim to be an aviation expert, but I do travel quite a bit in different parts of the world. Let's skip further insults this thread, and concentrate on the material at hand...
As I said, the story is yet to be told on the A380. It might succeed, it might not.
I think it will. The airlines who plan to operate it must have taken into account their passenger loadings versus the cost of operation. I certainly don't believe that just being a few months late (the subject of this thread) is going to be a make or break issue.
But, right now, can you tell me what airports that can handle it? Not too many.
It's not many, it won't be that many, and it doesn't need to be many. A380 is destined to be a hub-to-hub plane.
What is the footprint weight at max gross ramp weight, and how many airports have the structural ability built into the runways, taxiways and ramps to hold it. (I assume they already considered it, but that might limit the airports)
I don't know the weights, and whether spreading the weight across more landing gear wheels makes a difference to these considerations. The main task of the airports preparing for A380 readiness seems to be that of
widening the runways - not lengthening, or preparing for extra weight.
How many airports have passenger waiting areas where 800 people can wait?
What's the 800 figure? The initial design of the A380 accommodates about 550 pax. A couple of 747s carry more than that, and in some cases BA despatches two of those from London to New York within half an hour of each other. Given that check-in is 2 hours before flight departure, you can see that an airport like LHR is
already handling large volumes of passengers on the ground. A fifth terminal is being built, so it's all in hand.
If a flight is canceled, what will be the cost of accomodating 800 people, and the impact on thier opinion of the airline?
Ah the 800 figure again! These considerations are already in hand. It's not just the size of individual aircraft which affect the impact of cancellation. In case of bad weather, all passengers would be stuck - regardless of the size of aircraft they were planning to fly in.
How many jetbriges are required to load and unload 800 people? How long are the passengers willing to wait to unload when stopped at the gate?
Part of the LHR A380 upgrade plan (and this may be what T5 is all about) is to provide both upper
and lower loading ramps. So to load 550 pax shouldn't take longer than loading ~275 pax on a smaller plane.
What will be the required load factor necessary to break even or profit from a flight with that much fuel, food and cabin crew?
They'll be looking to fill every seat, and they should be able to do it quite easily. On some routes in the Asia/Pacific/Oceana regions, capacity has tripled in less than 5 years. Clearly the operators need more seats than could be provided by the aircraft they had 5 years ago. Don't know about the cargo specifics, but A380 is supposed to have a range about at least 10% greater than other long range planes.
God forbid an accident, but if one ever crashed, what would be the political and commercial impact, and how much negative publicity would accompany that? (think the Comet)
People will still fly. Boeings have crashed and people still fly them. The worst aviation disaster on record involved TWO 747s (KLM and Pan-AM) at Los Rodeos Airport, Tenerife, Canary Islands in 1977, and about 575 lives lost. The KLM pilot was arguably to blame for taking off without a take off clearance. But... KLM is still alive and kicking 28 years later...
All interesting points, Dago. I'm sure the operators to be will have done their homework.