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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 2846.PDF
Airports FITTING THEA380 Will Airbus's new ultra-large A380 provide the solution to slot shortages - or will it just cause problems for cash-strapped airports? DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON Airport bosses can see the new Airbus A380 as a nuisance or as a solution, depending on whether their runway capacity is slot-limited. If the ability to expand passenger throughput depends on increasing the average number of passen gers per aircraft movement, then the A380 is what airport chiefs dream of. But if slots are no problem, a customer airline using the A380 might force the airport to modify gates, parking, taxi way spacing and in- terminal passenger processing capacity. Naturally, Airbus touts its big, 550-pas- senger A380-800 as the solution - and not only for airports. It predicts travel demand will increase by half by 2008, will double in the next 15 years and triple within 23 years. And freight demand will increase more rapidly, it says. This will put intolera ble pressure on air traffic management sys- Virgin will terns, says Airbus, so the ability to move be larger numbers of passengers in one traffic Heathrow's unit will be a godsend. only Airbus resents any suggestion that in resident planning its new ultra-large aircraft (ULA), A380 it would not have taken into account the operator, but needs of airports as well as airlines. "Not a it will be the single airport has said it will not be able to destination accommodate the A380," says Airbus head for many of infrastructure Willy-Pierre Dupont. operators of The first - albeit not quite complete - the type operating manual that Airbus has pub lished for the A380 is for ground opera tions. It covers everything from undercar riage footprint, gate dimensions and turnaround time, to diagrams laying out the options for positioning loading/un loading/servicing vehicles around the air craft. Airlines and airport operators have had the manual for a year. The International Civil Aviation Organ isation has been working with Airbus to determine the standards that should apply to the new generation large aircraft, and the manufacturer has been consulting national agencies on matters such as safety risk assessments, says Dupont. ICAO fire and rescue standards must be upgraded from the 747's category 9 to cate gory 10 because of the A380's extra fuse lage width. One part of this requirement is an increase in extinguishing capacity from 29,000 to 40,0001 itres. Airport service providers must also consider the need for towing/pushback vehicles to have more power and greater surface grip. Different dimensions Crucial factors for airports include wing- span, length, pavement loading, under carriage footprint width, turning circle and take-off/landing performance. Fin height is important because it can obscure the con trol tower's view of other traffic. Airbus increased only three of these dimensions compared with the types air ports handle already. The A380's wingspan is 79.6m, 15m wider than the 747's, which Dupont says was the figure airports quoted virgin atJantic 34 24-30 SEPTEMBER 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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