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The Paris airshow is one of the year’s premier events at which airlines and airplane manufacturers get to show off some of their latest products and innovations. This year one of the biggest draws is almost certain to be the first Qatar Airways 777 to come equipped with the airline’s incredible-looking QSuites ….but my take-away from the show is going to be something else. And that “something” isn’t anything good.
The Airbus A380 program has been on life support for a number of years now as most airlines move towards efficient aircraft like the Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. If it wasn’t for Emirates having a fixation with the A380 the aircraft would probably have gone out of production by now (the airline has over 100 of them in service or on order).
But, despite recent reports that A380 production is expected to drop to under 1/month for the first time, it looks as if Airbus is giving the project one last desperate roll of the dice….and that roll looks to be at the expense of passenger comfort.
In an attempt to persuade airlines that it can produce a more efficient version of the A380 (without the expense of new fuel-efficient engines) Airbus has tweaked various parts of the current A380 and produced a version it’s calling the “A380plus“.
What Is The Airbus A380plus?
Deciphering the spin that Airbus has been coming out with and distilling what’s left down to basics this is what we appear to be left with:
- An A380 with 4.7 metre high wiglets to reduce drag and improve efficiency by around 4%
- An “optimised cabin layout” consisting of up to 80 additional seats thanks to a series of “cabin enablers”
- 13% cost reduction per seat compared to the existing version of the Airbus A380
Image courtesy of Airbus
What’s So Bad About The A380plus?
It’s all down to what Airbus calls “cabin enablers”….a phrase that passengers should assume means “space savers at the expense of passengers”.
Airlines will be given a choice:
- Have an A380plus in the same configuration as the current A380 (i.e no extra seats) and gain 555km or range thanks to the more efficient aerodynamics or….
- As 80 seats to the current A380 configuration by redesigning the interior cabin.
What airline is going to go for option 1?!
Any airline interested in an A380plus won’t think very much of 555km extra range but may well like the sound of 80 more seats…especially as the way Airbus is saying the aircraft will be configured means that airlines can keep a 3-cabin set up (Business, Premium Economy and Economy).
The problems for passengers become more obvious when you take a look at how Airbus will squeeze 80 more passengers into its Whale Jet.
Redesigning & moving staircases
Looking up the Qatar Airways A380 Grand Staircase
This is the least passenger-affecting move as it will involve replacing the big staircase towards the front of the aircraft with a smaller one and moving it adjacent to the stair case leading down to the crew quarters.
This is expected to allow the addition of 20 extra Business Class seats.
The rearmost staircase in the aircraft will also be redesigned (made smaller) allowing for the insertion of 14 more Economy Class seats.
Combining crew rest areas
The crew rest area behind the cockpit will be relocated downwards and merged with the crew rest area on the lower deck. This is expected to free up room for 3 extra Premium Economy seats but Airbus makes no mention of the impact this will have on the amount of space the crew will have.
11-Across Economy Class Seating
This has been muted quite a few times in the past but now Airbus has gone ahead and build an aircraft with this abhorrent set up.
Emirates currently offers 10-across seating in its A380 aircraft
10-across seating has been proven to be confining and extremely uncomfortable for passengers. Those with a bit more size to them barely fit into the narrow seats (if at all) and most passengers are left with no room at the shoulders at all.
So just imagine what 11-across seats will be like!
9-Across seating in Premium Economy
It’s not just Economy where Airbus is squeezing passengers in – Premium Economy gets the treatment too.
Premium Economy on the A380 has long been one of the more comfortable Premium Economy cabins around thanks to a very spacious 7-across seating configuration on some airlines (e.g. British Airways & Qantas) and to a lesser extent 8-across seating on airlines like Emirates and Singapore Airlines. Now Airbus plans to add up to two seats per row.
Removal of stowage space from Business Class
Airbus say that removing the storage bins that Business Class passengers get between the window seat and the window itself will make space for up to 10 more passengers in Business Class.
The Etihad A380 Business Class seat together with the excellent under-window storage that Airbus is removing from the A380plus
Firstly, that storage area is extremely useful…so much so that I noted it as a big plus in my review of the Etihad A380 Business Class cabin and while the lack of such storage was noted as a negative in my review of the Etihad 777 Business Class cabin.
Secondly, won’t 10 more seats in the Business Class cabin just make it feel even more like a dormitory than it does now? And how exactly will the “angled herringbone” seat layout work if not by reducing the amount of space passengers have?
Thoughts
This is nothing more than a desperate attempt by Airbus to keep the A380 project alive and it’s attempting to do so at the expense of passenger comfort….although, laughably, Airbus is claiming that the A380plus will be “maintaining A380 unique comfort level”.
11-across seating on any existing passenger aircraft (even one as big as the A380) is a terrible idea…especially considering how many hours passengers normally spend on these things. 11-across between Dubai and Abu Dhabi may be one thing but how about Kuala Lumpur to London? It will be unbearable.
There isn’t a single true passenger enhancement in the A380plus and that tells you all you need to know about the direction in which Airbus is taking its biggest aircraft.
It’s time for Airbus to accept that the A380 has reached the end of the road and rather than creating more misery for passengers they should just let it go and move on.
