Carry on: Kiwis love A380, airlines not so much

Airbus has just celebrated the 10th anniversary of the A380 superjumbo’s first flight. But with a few notable exceptions, the world’s airlines have avoided the world’s biggest airliner.

Fortunately, two of those airlines fly to New Zealand and Kiwis are among the most avid users of the double-deckers.

So much so that four arrive and depart from Auckland each day and, along with the smaller Boeing 787 Dreamliner, are the aircraft most requested by passengers, travel agents say.

New Zealanders are also lucky because they have the opportunity to make the shortest journeys on an A380 outside of the Middle East. This is because the three daily Emirates A380 flights to and from Dubai land first in Australia.

Emirates president and chief executive Sir Tim Clark says even passengers in the economy section often find the aircraft a special treat.

"About half of the economy passengers still take photos before they enter or exit the aircraft," he says. "The Boeing 747 had a wow-factor phase in the 1970s but the A380's wow-factor phase seems to be lasting much longer."

But despite its historic decade of contribution to aviation, the A380 has had more than its share of development and production delays.

It was also hit by the downturn in traffic during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09 and changes in airline preferences with high fuel prices until recently.

While Emirates, Qantas and Singapore Airlines – which took delivery of the first A380 in October 2007 – have continued to buy them, about a dozen others have walked away or delayed deliveries.

History of the superjumbo
The origins of building a superjumbo go back to 2000, when Airbus gambled that over the next 20 years it would win half the market for very large aircraft, which it estimated at around 1550 planes.

To date, Airbus has booked 317 A380 orders, of which 158 have been delivered. Unlike the 747, which is now more of a rarity, it did not make a larger version or a freighter.

Boeing latest variant, the 747-8, has also not taken any orders lately as airlines opt for twin-engined widebody aircraft rather than the bigger four-engined models.

Although some have suggested the A380 could go out of production around the end of the decade unless orders pick up, Airbus officials have been at pains to say the A380 project won’t be abandoned.

The company spent $US15 billion to develop the plane and, before costs rose, hoped to reach break-even on the programme after 250 deliveries.

Now it says those being delivered from this year will no longer lose money. About 30 deliveries are planned, balancing demand..

It has been almost three years since any orders were received from a new airline customer.

Emirates ordered 50 more in 2013 and now has 60 in its fleet with another 80 on order. Leasing company Amedeo ordered 20 in a deal completed last year. But it has yet to announce any airlines that will take the planes and has delayed its first delivery.

Airbus is banking on a spike by 2020 as Asian traffic increases and airports reach capacity limits, forcing airlines to use bigger planes.

New marketing ploys include adding more seats – taking the average count to 544 passengers from 525 – and maing it more attractive for airlines to drop prices.

Airbus also says there has been some interest in a stretched version.

A380 and New Zealand
Emirates’ first scheduled A380 flight from Dubai to Auckland via Sydney landed on February 2, 2009.

On October 2, 2012, the Melbourne service  started using A380 and exactly a year later the Brisbane service followed suit.

Emirates is the only airline offering A380 service all the way from Auckland to London (Heathrow and Gatwick), Manchester, Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Rome, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Zurich.

In October 2014, Singapore Airlines launched its Singapore-Auckland A380 service. Since January 2015, this has run in an alliance with Air New Zealand.

This is the longest single journey you can make from Auckland. At latest count, Singapore Airlines also flies A380 to Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, New Delhi, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo Narita and Zurich.