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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 2848.PDF
and heavier," says Dupont, so the A380 has not been as demanding as many had feared. The 2006/07 starters comprise 12 air ports, including Dubai, one of the first major A380 hub airports where launch cus tomer Emirates is based. Dubai will have a new terminal 3 dedicated mainly to the A380; Singapore's flag carrier Singapore Airlines will be the first to put the A380 into service, so Changi airport will be ready; and Tokyo Narita, Japan, and Sydney, Australia, are also gearing up. Also on the list is Lon don Heathrow, UK, home to early customer Virgin Atlantic, but which is also certain to be served by almost all early customers using the A380. Second wave Airbus has named 11 airports in the sec ond wave (2007/2009) including Frankfurt Main, Germany, and Bangkok, Thailand. It has also named 18 more "potentials" for early start, including Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Mumbai, India; and Amster dam and Madrid in Europe. The USA has no A380 launch customers except pure cargo operator FedEx, but Miami, New York Kennedy, Los Angeles and San Francisco are named in the first- wave group as having to be ready to han dle the massive passenger load and turn the aircraft around. US airports in the sec ond wave are Memphis, FedEx's hub, and Chicago O'Hare, which expects to be a tar get of those who could use the aircraft's very long range to offer non-stop services. Airbus admits the issue of who pays for airport improvements has been raised, but it is adamant airports will get a good return on the investment. The cost of adapting airports to accept the A380 is only 3-5% of the investment in expansion that airports would have to make in any case, says Dupont. So airports like Chicago that resent making the investment for, say, one arrival and departure a day when A380 operations begin, have to decide whether they want to miss out on the future growth potential brought by the new type. Enabling A380 operations can delay or even mitigate the need for a new runway, says Dupont. An Airports Council Inter national survey of 30 airports likely to han dle the A380 concludes that the average cost of upgrading for a ULA is $100 mil- Phase 1 airports 2006/07 Dubai. Doha, London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Los Angeles, Miami, New York Kennedy, Paris Charles de Gaulle, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo Narita. Phase 2 airports 2007/09 Anchorage, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, London Stansted, Osaka, Memphis, New York Newark, Chicago O'Hare, Indianapolis, Montreal. CASE STUDY LONDON HEATHROW Modifications cost millions London Heathrow's owner, BAA, says it is spending "many millions of pounds" on modifications to accom modate Airbus A380 operations. It expects A380 services by resident car rier Virgin to begin in 2006, and regular inbound customers Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qantas and Qatar Airlines to start operations there the same year. Given that Heathrow - a small airport in terms of ground area - is short of parking and gate space, it is an intimidating prospect because even the first operating part of its new termi nal, T5, cannot be ready before 2008. But Heathrow is already one of the world's most severely slot-constrained airports, and part of its business expansion strategy depends on the A380 and any future ULA competitor. BAA Heathrow says one third of all T5's gates will be sized to accommo date the A380, and the terminal's internal infrastructure for those gates will be designed to cope with arrivals and departures of up to 650 passen gers per aircraft movement. This is 100 passengers more than Airbus's standard three-class configuration for the type, and similar to the capacity of the proposed stretch A380-900. BAA Heathrow will have to deal with ever-increasing numbers of A380 departures and arrivals for at least two years using its present terminals as air lines take delivery of the aircraft in 2006/07. The necessary work is already in progress. Airport operators say "a structured programme of stand reconfiguration sufficient to meet the fleet growth at Heathrow" is under way. Airbus advises that check-in for an A380 departure will need 10-13 desks. The greatest challenge Heathrow faces is the A380's wingspan -15m wider than the Boeing 747's. BAA says this means widening its taxiways to meet ICAO standards for taxiway separation from runways and other movement areas. lion, but some of that investment would have been needed in other forms to handle traffic increase with current types. A 747 can be turned around in 90min, and airlines made it clear they did not want the A380 to take longer. Airbus says that with two airbridges to the main deck, that is easily achievable. There is no need for an upper-deck bridge because the wide, straight staircase between upper and main deck allows swift embarkation or disem barkation via the main deck. A third air bridge would be needed only if an airline chose high-density cabin seating. Right way up Baggage handling in the terminal would ideally involve a 90m carousel instead of a 70m one, but Airbus says 60m would be fine with simple improvements to baggage procedures. Techniques as simple as ensur ing handles always face the passengers can speed up collection, say airlines. Airports are more reticent on the subject. Existing ground power units (GPUs) can supply the A380's requirements, but must be run at higher power. Cool air supply capability must go up by 35%, however, demanding more power and more hoses. 747s are often served at hot airports with one cool air supply hose, but that would not do for A380 passengers. Catering requirements can be met using the same vehicles that serve 747s, but Airbus admits that for fast turnaround, the vehicles should be aircraft-specific. The A380-800F freighter that will be deliv ered to FedEx and Emirates in 2008 will need special loading equipment because of the need to raise cargo 8m to the upper deck. This is 200mm higher than the 747's upper deck, which is not used for cargo any way. FedEx is talking to two manufacturers, Orlando, Florida-based FMC AirportSystems and Air Marrel of France. Possible solutions include a purely FedEx deal with the chosen supplier, or a deal jointly with Airbus or other A380 operators. FedEx vice-president of aircraft acquisitions Jim Parker says: "It's a lot less work to pre pare the airports than people imagine. I think the passenger guys will have a tougher time with the gates." Emirates is acquiring two A380-800Fs partly because the belly hold on the twin-deck passenger version carries less freight in addition to pas senger bags than the 747 does. Current design has the A380 meeting QC2 London Heathrow departure noise standards, two grades better than the 747- 400, says Airbus, with further noise cuts planned. Arrivals are promised at QC1. Airbus says emissions will be lower than future ICAO requirements. Engine choice is the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or the General Electric/Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance GP7200, both large-diameter fan units. It will be 2005 before A380 flight tests begin and Airbus can prove its promises to the air transport world, which should then be free of the shadow of 11 September and the present economic downturn. • 36 24-30 SEPTEMBER 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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