All-coach A380 at last!

[chornedsnorkack]

It is well known that Airbus evacuated 853 people from A380. But the customers so far have not used it; the biggest A380 is that of Emirates, with 489 seats in 3 classes.

By comparison, Boeing 747 carries up to 587 seats, on Corsair. This is not single class: Corsair has 29 seats in premium class.

Emirates does plan on getting two-class variant of A380, with 604 seats: 60 business, 544 coach.

Now, there is an airline named Air Austral. Their longhaul fleet currently is 777-200ERs fitted with 364 seats: 316 Loisirs at 10 abreast and 83 cm pitch, 34 Confort at 9 abreast and 96 cm pitch, and 14 Club Austral at 7 abreast and 140 cm pitch - A first ! A business class on par with a first class !

In 2009 or 2010, they receive Boeing 777-300ER, with 442 seats (384/40/18, compare 472 seats 422/36/14 on Air France).

Air Austral has frequent flyer program named Capricorne.

Well the fresh news is this: Air Austral ordered 2 Airbus 380-800 planes, to be delivered in 2014 - with all Loisirs interior. No Club Austral or Confort, and 840 seats in total. They seem to be following the rule that everyone and their dog needs a few A380-s just as much as a few 747-100s - Air Comet also shall operate 2, and Aerolineas Argentinas now confiscated shall fly another two.

Who else shall want a few A380-s? That

[HarvesteR]

i'll take two of them!! to go, please  ;D

now, an a380 loaded with 840 passengers is likely to max out the capacity of pretty much every terminal it lands on

i'd like to see how they would manage that (i'm thinking of 4-5 jetways all connected to the same aircraft  ;D )

[chornedsnorkack]

[quote]

now, an a380 loaded with 840 passengers is likely to max out the capacity of pretty much every terminal it lands on

i'd like to see how they would manage that (i'm thinking of 4-5 jetways all connected to the same aircraft

[The Ruptured Duck]

An all coach A380 sounds like nightmare to me.  Especially if you are in the middle rows for hours on end.  I would impliment emergency evac. procedures as soon as the wheels touch the ground

[Ivan]

Emirates wants to certify theirs for 1000+ people... imagine unloading that