I presume the main body of the article is just sourced from the Flight International report. However there is one interesting bit:
***quote***
Industry sources said last night that further A380 orders — possibly from Air China, the state-owned Chinese airline — were possible at the Paris show.
***(Unquote)***
Woudln’t be too surprising since Airbus often stated that it expects to have a Chineese carrier operating the A380 by the 2008 Olympic Games.
Jeremiah
[Edited 2003-06-08 14:09:35]
Goodbye SR-LX MD-11 / 6th of March 1991 to the 31st of October 2004
Ba319-131 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 8276 posts, RR: 56 Reply 1, posted (10 years 1 week 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 2430 times:
I would not be surprised if they did place an order.
Traffic growth to/from China is going to maintain its strong growth,and as stated China is holding the 2008 Olympics.Hell,they could run it on domestic flights in the future!
Bobrayner From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2003, 2227 posts, RR: 7 Reply 3, posted (10 years 1 week 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 2395 times:
Hell,they could run it on domestic flights in the future!
Really?
1. The A380 is emphatically a long-haul machine. I can't think of any busy Chinese routes longer 2000km (not even PEK-HKG); you'll never fill an A380 to Lhasa or Urumqi.
2. China has a relatively effective rail network connecting all the major cities. The only advantage that airlines can offer is reduced journey time, which implies high frequencies except on the very longest routes. (The extreme example, PEK-HKG: 3-4 hours by air, currently 28 by rail but that will decrease)
Perhaps in future, with variants heavily optimised for short-haul (think of the 747 Domestics in Japan, except more so), but even so... I think smaller planes and higher frequencies will continue to drive Chinese domestic air travel except for a few anomalous cities with poor rail connections.
Industry sources said last night that further A380 orders — possibly from Air China, the state-owned Chinese airline — were possible at the Paris show.
Does sound interesting though.
But who are these industry sources? We'd all love more detail...
B-HOP From Hong Kong, joined Nov 2000, 559 posts, RR: 2 Reply 6, posted (10 years 1 week 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 2050 times:
I think thy an fill the monster eacily on routes from beijing/Shanghai to HK/Guangzhou/Shenzen/Xiamen, trust me, in Chinese new year, most route are packed. So by 2008, it is not impossible to fill them up. Plus, don't forget the large Chinese expat communities in US, such as Silicon Vallty.
Bobrayner From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2003, 2227 posts, RR: 7 Reply 11, posted (10 years 1 week 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 1897 times:
Domestically... I'd concede that it would be appropriate to destinations like Haikou in the holiday season.
However, the vanilla A388 really does seem more tuned for long-haul than competitors (and there are a few bargains at the moment). I have difficulty seeing the A388 as being the best choice for routes of 1000, 1500, 2000km unless airports are having a slot nightmare and surface transport can't keep up.
(Subsequent stretches would presumably push CASM down a little; they might actually compete better.)
But for many international routes to/from China, the A380 is ideal. There would be plenty in HKG.
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