fco110 From United States of America, joined Sep 2008, 79 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 2658 times:
I was in FCO and on the in bound and out bound I saw an Emirates A380 at the airport. It appears to be a quick turnaround. Can FCO support a 380 from anywhere? Or is this simply a stop en route to another location?
srbmod From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 16888 posts, RR: 51 Reply 1, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 2621 times:
Emirates flies DXB-FCO-DXB so there must be enough support at both ends (and onward from DXB) to support an A380 on the route. If they couldn't you'd see a 777 or A340 on the route and not an A380.
blink182 From Azerbaijan, joined Oct 1999, 5430 posts, RR: 19 Reply 2, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 2603 times:
The aircraft's scheduled routing is DXB-FCO-DXB. EK97 on the inbound, EK98 outbound. How EK makes such a route work, particularly as there already is another EK flight with a 77W, is beyond my knowledge. Been operating for probably a year or so, maybe less?
That should answer the first part of your question, but I'm sure the Italian and UAE a.nutters can fill in more gaps as to the economics and history of this route.
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NASCARAirforce From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 3084 posts, RR: 5 Reply 3, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 2528 times:
Someone I work with flew through FCO on another carrier then got on the Emirates A380 to Dubai, but he said it was half empty.
srbmod From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 16888 posts, RR: 51 Reply 4, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 2497 times:
Quoting NASCARAirforce (Reply 3): Someone I work with flew through FCO on another carrier then got on the Emirates A380 to Dubai, but he said it was half empty.
I'm thinking that perhaps there is enough cargo demand out of FCO to DXB that they need the cargo capacity of an A380 to keep up with the demand as two 777s couldn't carry it all. While the passenger cabin may not be showing high loads, cargo goes at a rate that can more than cover the empty seats. There's no telling how many routes that airlines fly that if it wasn't for the cargo revenues, they would have long since dropped the route.
9MMPQ From Netherlands, joined Nov 2011, 244 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 2122 times:
Quoting srbmod (Reply 4): While the passenger cabin may not be showing high loads, cargo goes at a rate that can more than cover the empty seats.
While there is quite some cargo on offer ex Italy it is generally viewed as a somewhat lower yielding cargo market. The fact they can take cargo directly from FCO rather then truck it to another station in Europe will save them some money but i'd doubt it will be enough to support a half empty flight year round, if that really were the case.
Frankly you'd need the insight from a regular traveller on the route or EK employee to get any real sense of passenger loads year round.
Quoting srbmod (Reply 1): If they couldn't you'd see a 777 or A340 on the route and not an A380.
Agreed, they have been quite careful in growing markets & have been upgrading once they felt traffic could sustain bigger aircraft. Meanwhile MH will be dropping FCO & EK has swapped one of it's B77W on KUL-DXB for the A380. More passengers to EK ?
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gkirk From UK - Scotland, joined Jun 2000, 24621 posts, RR: 58 Reply 6, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 2091 times:
Quoting srbmod (Reply 4): I'm thinking that perhaps there is enough cargo demand out of FCO to DXB that they need the cargo capacity of an A380 to keep up with the demand as two 777s couldn't carry it all.
2 x 777 can carry more cargo than 1 x 777 and 1 x 380. Must be pax demand.
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TCASAlert From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 7, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 1937 times:
Quoting blink182 (Reply 2): The aircraft's scheduled routing is DXB-FCO-DXB. EK97 on the inbound, EK98 outbound. How EK makes such a route work, particularly as there already is another EK flight with a 77W, is beyond my knowledge. Been operating for probably a year or so, maybe less?
Don't forget we're not just talking traffic to DXB. EK rely heavily on connecting traffic, and have an excellent route network across Asia and Africa, much of the traffic will connect to other flights heading to Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Sub Continent.
This is the advantage of having a super-hub like DXB. It is much easier to keep high load factors on feeder flights (with an A380). EK is not only the biggest operator of the whale, but probably the most efficient one as well.
aklrno From United States of America, joined Dec 2010, 693 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1507 times:
Is this how all those Ferraris get to the middle east?
flyingalex From Germany, joined Jul 2010, 1005 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1494 times:
Quoting srbmod (Reply 4): I'm thinking that perhaps there is enough cargo demand out of FCO to DXB that they need the cargo capacity of an A380 to keep up with the demand as two 777s couldn't carry it all.
Quoting gkirk (Reply 6): 2 x 777 can carry more cargo than 1 x 777 and 1 x 380.
As gkirk says, the B77W actually has a lot more cargo capacity than the A380 does. That's definitely not it.
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