A380 'sex appeal' bankable

Now that Singapore Airlines has become the first airline to begin using the giant plane on short hops within Asia, the French plane-maker Airbus claims the super-jumbo is having the same effect on routes as short as three and a half hours because of its consumer "sex appeal".

Airbus’s director of product marketing for the A380, Richard Carcaillet, told the industry website ATW Online Singapore Airlines was delighted with the aircraft's performance on the Singapore-Hong Kong and Singapore-Tokyo Narita routes.

On the Narita service, SIA, the dominant carrier on the route, had lifted its passenger count by 8% after introducing the A380 while all other airlines had experienced declines, according to Sabre booking data analysed by Airbus and supplied to ATW. At the same time, ANA loads dropped 13%, JAL 19%, United Airlines 22% and Delta Air Lines 7%.

While some of the decrease could be attributed to the economic downturn, ATW said the figures, which until now had been confidential, covered the period from May to December 2008 before the full impact of the downturn was felt.

SIA and Qantas are averaging 83% loads with their A380s, Airbus says.

Carcaillet said the A380 had a 97% "technical dispatch reliability" (percentage of flights not delayed by technical or maintenance issues), which tended to be much lower for most new aircraft types.

He said the A380’s reliability compared favorably with the longer-established 777 (98%) and was well ahead of the 747-400, which swung between 89% and 93% when it entered commercial operations. Airbus is targeting 98% reliability for the A380 this year.