With its successful landing at Mumbai’s airport at 3.30pm on Tuesday, the Airbus A380 has brought with it concepts that are a first in the aviation industry.
With its successful landing at Mumbai’s airport at 3.30pm on Tuesday, the Airbus A380 has brought with it concepts that are a first in the aviation industry.
Coming 40 years after the Boeing 747, the largest aircraft till now, the A380 offers 35 per cent more space to the passenger and is reportedly two generations ahead of its predecessor.
The size of the aircraft is based on projections about the growth in the number of air passengers. “There has been a consistent growth of about 20 per cent in aviation per year. This means that every four years, the market doubles. It is this need that the A380 will cater to,” says Kiran Rao, executive vice president, marketing and contracts, Airbus.
The aircraft manufacturing company’s marketing director, David Velupillai, says, “It is a myth perpetrated by Boeing that the future is in point-to-point flying. In fact it is now bringing back the phased-out 747 simply because it is the hubs that are driving growth in the sector.”
He adds: “We have designed this aircraft to be incredibly quiet with noise insulation as part of the conscious designing.” In India, the Airbus is confident that it will help
decongest the stressed metro airports by absorbing future passenger growth.
Sanjay Sharma, a senior analyst in Airbus’ marketing department says, “Emirates, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines would definitely want to bring the aircraft to Indian metros. The airports have to be compatible then. In any case, the Mumbai and Delhi airports will have 10 two-tier aerobridges each by the year 2010.”
Sharma adds that point-to-point travel and business travel is not absolute and is not possible for all routes.
“There would also be a mix of people from metros like Mumbai and Delhi who would want to travel for both purposes. We give that choice to both the traveller as well as the airline to combine their routes in a way that can serve both purposes,” he adds.
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