It is well known that Airbus evacuated 853 people from A380. But the customers so far have not used it; the biggest A380 is that of Emirates, with 489 seats in 3 classes.
By comparison, Boeing 747 carries up to 587 seats, on Corsair. This is not single class: Corsair has 29 seats in premium class.
Emirates does plan on getting two-class variant of A380, with 604 seats: 60 business, 544 coach.
Now, there is an airline named Air Austral. Their longhaul fleet currently is 777-200ERs fitted with 364 seats: 316 Loisirs at 10 abreast and 83 cm pitch, 34 Confort at 9 abreast and 96 cm pitch, and 14 Club Austral at 7 abreast and 140 cm pitch – A first ! A business class on par with a first class !
In 2009 or 2010, they receive Boeing 777-300ER, with 442 seats (384/40/18, compare 472 seats 422/36/14 on Air France).
Air Austral has frequent flyer program named Capricorne.
Well the fresh news is this: Air Austral ordered 2 Airbus 380-800 planes, to be delivered in 2014 – with all Loisirs interior. No Club Austral or Confort, and 840 seats in total. They seem to be following the rule that everyone and their dog needs a few A380-s just as much as a few 747-100s – Air Comet also shall operate 2, and Aerolineas Argentinas now confiscated shall fly another two.
Who else shall want a few A380-s? That´s what a flag carrier needs, after all.
By: swerve - 14th August 2009 at 18:09
Well, the issue is a sociological one, not one of people being stingy.
The flights to the Reunion are very similar to the flight from Paris to Guadeloupe and Martinique. Half the tickets are essentially bought by locals that moved from the overseas departments/territories to mainland France for work reasons (that is to move from no job on the island to basic jobs in the mainland) and who go back to visit family. These people are not stingy, they simply don’t have the financial capacity to upgrade in Business.
The other half of passengers is made up of people who have bought a one week all inclusive stay in a resort hotel on the cheap.
The few business seats offered by Air France are taken by senior officials and the very few people heading to these places to conduct business. If more were offered, it would not be taken.
In other words, the proposed high-capacity A380 seating plan is probably a logical response to the characteristics of the local market.
By: chornedsnorkack - 14th August 2009 at 17:21
More references
The Air Austral plans attract mention, and hopes of more airlines to follow suit, like Jet*:
http://www.etravelblackboard.com/showarticle.asp?id=95845&nav=61
By: sekant - 18th June 2009 at 14:23
Well, the issue is a sociological one, not one of people being stingy.
The flights to the Reunion are very similar to the flight from Paris to Guadeloupe and Martinique. Half the tickets are essentially bought by locals that moved from the overseas departments/territories to mainland France for work reasons (that is to move from no job on the island to basic jobs in the mainland) and who go back to visit family. These people are not stingy, they simply don’t have the financial capacity to upgrade in Business.
The other half of passengers is made up of people who have bought a one week all inclusive stay in a resort hotel on the cheap.
The few business seats offered by Air France are taken by senior officials and the very few people heading to these places to conduct business. If more were offered, it would not be taken.
By: Schorsch - 18th June 2009 at 13:26
Air France already ignores the passengers who want to travel in F, and carries an unreasonably small proportion of seats in C (14 out of 472 in 777-300ER, 17 out of 477 on 747-400). Air Austral mainline does likewise. And Corsair flies there ignoring C as well (only premium economy).
Thus Air Austral might make the next move of flying an A380 with no premium class at all, and directing both C and premium economy passengers to fly their mainline…
I wouldn’t say ignore, I guess if enough people want to go, they install a big shiny first class. Apparently, people flying to Reunion are more the stingy type.
By: chornedsnorkack - 18th June 2009 at 10:03
Well considering the competition already on the route from the likes of Air France, I find the idea of an A380 operating the route very hard to believe!
Not only that, but a reasonable portion of those pax will want to travel in C/F classes, why ignore them?
Air France already ignores the passengers who want to travel in F, and carries an unreasonably small proportion of seats in C (14 out of 472 in 777-300ER, 17 out of 477 on 747-400). Air Austral mainline does likewise. And Corsair flies there ignoring C as well (only premium economy).
Thus Air Austral might make the next move of flying an A380 with no premium class at all, and directing both C and premium economy passengers to fly their mainline…
By: Schorsch - 18th June 2009 at 07:25
Well considering the competition already on the route from the likes of Air France, I find the idea of an A380 operating the route very hard to believe!
Not only that, but a reasonable portion of those pax will want to travel in C/F classes, why ignore them?
I don’t know the traffic volume, but I guess the window for travel is limited (to have acceptable departure and arrival times). The flight is 10 hours, so quite a bit. I think with 800 people on board you can make quite competitive pricing, something where one who operates B747 or B777 really has a hard time to compete against, especially when fuel prices are high (the A380 burns 20% less than B747-400, 11% less than B777-300ER). At the same time, the A380 with 3-4-3 on main deck and 2-4-2 on upper deck is reasonably comfortable, while a B747 with 3-4-3 is more crammed and a B777 with 3-4-3 is close to unacceptable for a 10 hour flight.
Different than some other wide bodies, the A380 is a very good economy class aircraft!
Besides: Both the B777-300ER and the B747-400 get some payload-range issues at max passenger load, at least for a 5000nm trip like Paris to Reunion.
By: Arabella-Cox - 17th June 2009 at 21:40
Well considering the competition already on the route from the likes of Air France, I find the idea of an A380 operating the route very hard to believe!
Not only that, but a reasonable portion of those pax will want to travel in C/F classes, why ignore them?
By: chornedsnorkack - 17th June 2009 at 18:25
Good lord! Air Austral are based at Reunion… a small french island in the indian ocean (I think). How on earth do they think there is enough demand from there for that?!
Unless this new subsidary is going to be based elsewhere…. but still, I can’t see anywhere in the world where 800 passengers will want to get on one flight everyday, ALL FLYING ECONOMY. :confused:
Reunion is a small island, but it has over 800 000 inhabitants. For whom France is the metropolis and Paris is the capital.
With the inconvenience of being oceans away. Cramming the passengers into a single all-coach A380 every day promises to be the cheapest way to ferry them to their capital…
By: Arabella-Cox - 17th June 2009 at 18:16
Good lord! Air Austral are based at Reunion… a small french island in the indian ocean (I think). How on earth do they think there is enough demand from there for that?!
Unless this new subsidary is going to be based elsewhere…. but still, I can’t see anywhere in the world where 800 passengers will want to get on one flight everyday, ALL FLYING ECONOMY. :confused:
By: chornedsnorkack - 17th June 2009 at 17:31
More specifics
Air Austral picked Engine Alliance (as did Air France, for the matter). But the planes shall be flown by a new subsidiary, not mainline.
The name and livery of the subsidiary remain to be seen. As do its service standards…
By: Mark L - 15th January 2009 at 20:39
Sounds dreadful!
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January 15, 2009 at 8:18 pm