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Super-Jumbo Jets Set For Graveyards

While it is ultimate ignominy for Airbus A380 that promised to revolutionise air travel, the B747, the final flying days of the planet’s most recognizable jetliner are approaching sooner than expected, writes WOLE SHADARE
B747, A380, aircraft to remember
There’s something about the super-jumbo airplane; the size makes a difference. The pure number of passengers, even with those stairs inside the cabin leading up to the second deck that make travel on a B747 or an A380 a flight to remember.
But times have changed and with improvements in jet engine and carbon fiber composite technology and an ever increasing focus on fuel efficiency, the days of the four-engine plane may be numbered.
Two-engine aircraft such as the B777 and A350 can now carry similar passenger loads or nearly the same distance while burning much less fuel, making the larger superjumbo jets a prime target for cost cutting.
So, with B747 fleets being retired more quickly than ever before and the A380 potentially on the Airbus chopping block, just how much longer one would have to fly on one of these mammoth aircraft?
Plane makers wind down production
Aircraft giants, Boeing and Airbus, are winding down production of the 747 and A380, planes that ended up being too big for their own good.
It’s time to eulogise the passing of the 747 and A380, engineering marvels that defied gravity, tantalised travelers with luxurious cabin space and opened intercontinental travel to the masses by making cheap fares plentiful.
The pandemic sped up their demise, which seemed inevitable. There’s little doubt air travel will see weaker demand for several years, which is a killer for enormous airplanes that require strong demand to fill seats.
The losses will be mourned by many travelers, and will be particularly hard on airplane aficionados for whom these incredible machines represented jet nirvana.
But from the beginning, both jumbo jets were too big for most markets, and the only way airlines could fill them was by offering very cheap fares. And while travelers profit from cheap fares, airlines don’t.
Boeing announced at the end of July that it would discontinue 747 productions in 2022 when it finishes building the last 15 freighters on order.
The last passenger version of the 747 was delivered in 2017, though two planes built for an airline but never delivered will become Air Force One presidential transport.
Airlines retire planes
Lufthansa had, in September 2020, nailed the coffin of the A380. That comes with the news that it may retire its fleet of the superjumbo jets as part of its coronavirus pandemic-driven restructuring.
The A380 is among the planes hardest hit by COVID-19. Designed for high-demand routes to busy airports, the jets have proved far too much plane for the historically low passenger numbers during the pandemic.
Nearly every operator parked their jets, with many evaluating the future of the superjumbo in their fleets long term.
Airlines have grounded most 747s during the pandemic and most won’t ever fly passengers again.
Airlines recently saying their 747s won’t return include British Airways, Qantas, KLM and Virgin Atlantic
Airlines that previously retired passenger 747s: United, Delta, Cathay Pacific and Singapore. Airlines with the newer 747-8 include Lufthansa, Korean Air and Air China.
Qantas, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have grounded most of their A380. Korean Air is also grounding its fleet of aging Boeing 747 jumbo jets. KLM is grounding its B747 fleet, while Air France, one of the first carriers to announce it was dumping the A380, has grounded its ten super-jumbos indefinitely.
Airbus announced in February that it will end production of its superjumbo A380 in 2021, again after the last remaining dozen or so airplanes on order are delivered. You might say airlines announced the end of the A380 long ago because big orders just never materialised, except at Emirates.
“The A380 is not only an outstanding engineering and industrial achievement. Passengers all over the world love to fly on this great aircraft. Hence today’s announcement is painful for us,’’ Airbus said when announcing the end of production early this year. “A380s will still roam the skies for many years to come.”
The crucial issue
For many airlines, the planes are too big to make a profit aside from on the busiest routes and a few firms want to snap up second-hand versions that could cost a motza to run.
“The plane is expensive, not only to buy, but also to operate.
In addition to demanding airport modifications for its huge passenger load and million-pound bulk, economics demand that it be flown full to pay its enormous hourly costs,” Michael Goldstein, a columnist at Forbes, said in 2018.
Despite optimism from the A380 makers that the airplane will still roam the skies for many years to come and assurance that Airbus will, of course, continue to fully support the A380 operators, some A380s have already been put out to pasture.
Airlines also no longer need three and four-engine planes to cross the Atlantic with planes as tiny as the Airbus A318 making the overwater journey between New York and London on a near-daily basis before the pandemic.
Revised government regulations in the 1980s to allow twin-engines planes to fly overwater routes spurred the development of jets like the Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 to fly those routes and make them more lucrative.
Efficiency as new mantra
Efficiency is now the name of the game. Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce, whose airline has operated the Boeing 747, Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner, once said that his airline could fly two Dreamliners for less the price of one Airbus A380 flight with the A350 likely boasting similar economic advantages.
Not only are the jets more efficient to operate, but they’re also cheaper to purchase. The Airbus A380 costs a whopping $445.6 million, according to Airbus’ most-recent price list , while the Boeing 747-8i goes for $418.4 million, according to Boeing.
The largest Airbus A350 XWB and Boeing 787 Dreamliners, on the other hand, are cheaper to buy at $366.5 million and $338.4 million, respectively.
Customers want flexibility
Flying two Dreamliners instead of an Airbus A380 would only mean a loss of capacity of 12 seats for Qantas, according to SeatGuru , assuming the A380 flight completely sells out, but offers the flexibility to fly an additional frequency.
Instead of one flight between Los Angeles and Sydney, it can theoretically fly two and attract customers who need a flexible schedule.
Airbus had designed the A380 to carry as many people as possible so that airlines would be able to fly fewer flights.
Instead of flying multiple flights between two cities, airlines could save money by flying just one A380 flight and cramming as many passengers into one plane.
What that would’ve meant, however, was fewer flights and less flexibility for travelers who don’t want to rely on just one flight per day.
Very few airlines used the model as intended and the A380 came too late as Boeing was already knee-deep in the 787’s development by the time the A380 took its first flight.
Last line
Never been on a B747 or an A380? Doing it sooner rather than later might be wise. With aerospace technology improving by the day, it seems likely it has come to a point in the not-too-distant future where the experience of flying on a superjumbo jet is consigned to the dustbin of history.
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