B777A340Fan From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 749 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 years 7 months 1 week 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2247 times:
EK and QF each have their own customization requirements for their upcoming A380 and I was wondering if the road ahead for Airbus is a hard one. I know they stated that their major challenge for the upcoming years was going to be meeting production for their promised delivery date, but how easy/hard will be to reconfigure the plane to meet demands?
Pnwtraveler From Canada, joined Jun 2007, 2046 posts, RR: 12 Reply 1, posted (5 years 7 months 1 week 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 2025 times:
The high degree of customization is really one of the major sources for the delays. I think you will see those options considerably pared down in all new aircraft from here on in. Do you mean take one of the planes already built and reconfiguer them for different service level and cabin arrangement? If so one of the people I know from Britain who was a senior manager says it is doable but will be much bigger headache than with previous aircraft. When airlines see the bill for those changes they will regret being so extravagent with some of the things they asked for. Previously the lounge on the upper level of the 747 was fairly easy to convert because plumbing and extensive PTV etc. weren't involved. I was told the beds on the SIA ultra first cabin were incredibly expensive and if they don't sell replacing them will have cost a pretty penny. Only time will tell on that one.
Bongodog1964 From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2006, 3019 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (5 years 7 months 1 week 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 1986 times:
I haven't as yet seen any mention of any airline seeking a customisation to their A380's which is in any way unusual; in the past we have seen airlines seeking to move galleys to the cargo deck, in order to free up main deck space; I believe this was on the DC10, but don't quote me on it; plus other major mods. At present all the A380 customers seem content with two full length decks for passengers. As long as the floors can cope with the seating layouts, and the IFE wiring is in the right place there should be few problems. Planes are built to cope with layout changes over the years; look at BA's 772's, these will shortly gain their 3rd Club World layout, with some planes being under 10 years old. Of course in this case this does depend on a solution being found to anchoring the seats properly !!!!
PS Before anyone tears me off a strip over the BA 772 club world anchorage problems; I'm sure a solution has been found, or is near to being.
B777A340Fan From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 749 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (5 years 7 months 1 week 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 1838 times:
Quoting Bongodog1964 (Reply 2): At present all the A380 customers seem content with two full length decks for passengers
Yes, I meant more like seating/cabin configuration and consequently, different wiring schemes, etc. I wasn't referring to the A380 being remodeled and/or redrawn.
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