This month's Air International has run an Interview with Tim Clark of Emirates on 3 years of A380 operations (although it's nearly 3 1/2 now as the 1st delivery was July 29th 2008)..
Interesting comments attributed to Tim Clark....
Fair use excerpts..
On Demand
Quote: "It's a wonderful aircraft; everybody wants to fly on it. It wasn't just a honeymoon in the first year - three years after the first flight it's still very highly in demand"
On reliability...
Quote: "We are not quite at the maturity levels we had hoped for after 3 years"
Quote: "We have achieved a dispatch reliability of 98% on our fleet.... we couldn't apply a number of modifications quickly enough due to the number of aircraft, but Airbus works with us extremely hard"
On weight...
Quote: "From our 1st aircraft to today's deliveries, we have saved 3 1/2 tonnes. The average aircraft comes in (from Airbus) 1.5 tonnes lighter than the first. There is another 1 tonne to come.
it will be 4 1/2 tonnes lighter in the end."
Quote: "We are now able to start San Fransisco next year (2012) "
On product
Quote: The new onboard lounge (for 1st and business class) can be removed in 96 hours, but Tim Clark is aware that he can't do that without losing scores of customers......... the benches will become more comfortable, the lighting more homely, and the area will accommodate more than the current 26 people
On crew
Quote: "Currently we have 307 pilots and 1st officers. In Marxh 2012 it will be 359, and a year later 615"
On future ops...
Quote: "Of course we want the bigger aircraft (A380-900). They should have launched it as the base model...... The wings are fantastic, but what are they going to do with the thrust and take-off weight?...... I would want another 150 seats - that would take it to 670 seats in 3 classes" (my comment - implies a 12m stretch IMO....)
Quote: "She would need to lift 75 - 80 tonnes over... 12 - 14 hours..... With the freighter gear and structure, and a 607 tonne take-off weight, the aircraft almost exists on paper already. It could take 3 - 5 years until the A380-900 enters service"
Quote: EK have 90 A380's on order but Tim Clark already knows these are not enough..... "when we Start Munich, and Perth and Melbourne, they are soaked up quickly. Even Los Angeles could be feasible restricted to 450 passengers outbound and fully loaded on return, with a block time of 16 hours 40 minutes"
Quote: "12 A380destinations double-daily; 60 aircraft needed for Australia/New Zealand and North and South america.. But I only have 90 aircraft on order... What does it tell you? "We need more!""
An interesting article. There's plenty more in it. Well worth a read if you can get hold of it..
redrooster3 From United States of America, joined Oct 2010, 217 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (1 year 4 months 3 weeks 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 4021 times:
Wasn't their a post earlier about EK having to cut fares to fill up their A380's? Now they're claiming that they are filling the planes?
The only thing you should change about a woman is her last name.
astuteman From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2005, 9136 posts, RR: 96 Reply 2, posted (1 year 4 months 3 weeks 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 3895 times:
Quoting redrooster3 (Reply 1): Wasn't their a post earlier about EK having to cut fares to fill up their A380's? Now they're claiming that they are filling the planes?
Must admit I've just trawled all the threads that mention EK in the title, but couldn't find such a post....
ebbuk From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (1 year 4 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 3718 times:
Imagine if the first A380 was a -900? CX would have been flying it by now!
Question, If EK can fly DXB-SFO with the 380, surely CX could go HKG-JFk with no probs? Come on CX get your credit card out and order the beast.
Of course what makes the 380 so appealing is the small number in service. Less is always more, even when it's as big as the 380 (if you catch my drift).
Quoting redrooster3 (Reply 1): Wasn't their a post earlier about EK having to cut fares to fill up their A380's? Now they're claiming that they are filling the planes?
Well there is nothing wrong with either of those statements. In fact one would be as a direct result of the other n'est pas?
lightsaber From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 10671 posts, RR: 100 Reply 6, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 2706 times:
My friend,
A thread on new year's eve? No wonder at the lack of posts despite the interesting data.
Quoting astuteman (Thread starter): Quote:
"We have achieved a dispatch reliability of 98% on our fleet.... we couldn't apply a number of modifications quickly enough due to the number of aircraft, but Airbus works with us extremely hard"
Not horrid, but not great. That explains the 14 hour per day duty cycle. (Initially EK was pushing the type harder.)
Quoting astuteman (Thread starter): Quote:
"She would need to lift 75 - 80 tonnes over... 12 - 14 hours..... With the freighter gear and structure, and a 607 tonne take-off weight, the aircraft almost exists on paper already. It could take 3 - 5 years until the A380-900 enters service"
I calculate a higher MTOW for that mission. I would guess for the 14 hour mission 615 tonne. Anyone else done an estimate? (I admit mine is 'rough.')
astuteman From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2005, 9136 posts, RR: 96 Reply 7, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 2559 times:
Quoting lightsaber (Reply 6): I calculate a higher MTOW for that mission. I would guess for the 14 hour mission 615 tonne. Anyone else done an estimate? (I admit mine is 'rough.')
I have to confess to struggling to make the time just now.
I was intrigued enough to see the 607 tonne figure quoted - it's not one I've seen before.
And TC saying it "exists on paper already" serves to illustrate just how much potential is built into this airframe.
It beggars belief really. The current plane must be incredibly inefficient compared to its potential - I can see why TC says the 85m model should have been the baseline.......
As for the difference between 607 tonnes and your estimate of 615 tonnes - if Airbus can't find that 1% between now and the EIS of such a craft, then they need to try harder...
qfa787380 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 2311 times:
EK have done very well with the 380 and I believe they would have already committed to more than the 90 if congestion issues at DXB could be resolved. I was surprised there was not a further order last year to start replacing 10yo+ frames as that seems to be their modus operandi.
The EK/380 fit seems a very good one. I think Airbus were correct in launching the 388 1st. The 389 would have been just too big for many airlines and restricted their client base too far.
The one concern from the outline in the original post was the dispatch reliability, which should be better than 98% after 3 years. I would be interested in further details here.
astuteman From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2005, 9136 posts, RR: 96 Reply 9, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 1969 times:
Quoting qfa787380 (Reply 8): The one concern from the outline in the original post was the dispatch reliability, which should be better than 98% after 3 years. I would be interested in further details here.
I was wary of posting too much for fear of infringing on copyright laws.
However the article specifically mentions fuel pump issues as an example of an issue they had nt expected to be dealing with still.
Also the "loosesness" of some panels is mentioned, which, from the context, appear to be part of the interior linings.
EKGOLD From Australia, joined May 2005, 204 posts, RR: 6 Reply 10, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 1906 times:
Quoting astuteman (Thread starter): Quote:
"We have achieved a dispatch reliability of 98% on our fleet.... we couldn't apply a number of modifications quickly enough due to the number of aircraft, but Airbus works with us extremely hard"
A far cry from its earlier reliability when EK staff nicknamed it "the 180" in reference to its numerous returns to the gate in early stages of deployment.....
PezySPU From Croatia, joined Dec 2011, 281 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 1539 times:
Quoting EKGOLD (Reply 10): A far cry from its earlier reliability when EK staff nicknamed it "the 180" in reference to its numerous returns to the gate in early stages of deployment.....
I recall reading on this forum long ago about some other airline giving that same nickname to Embraer 190 for the same reason...
Sponsor Message: 
From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2005, 9136 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Oct 2010, 217 posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From Croatia, joined Dec 2011, 281 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
