BA and the Airbus A380

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TheGreenGoblin
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BA and the Airbus A380

#1 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:09 pm

I wonder what the chances are they will use this aircraft on the Heathrow to Cape Town route?

Woody? Does Cape Town have the facilities to handle such a big aircraft? It could easily handle the 747.
Many aviation industry observers had written off the Airbus A380 “SuperJumbo” once the coronavirus pandemic took hold worldwide.

A prevailing view was that the aircraft’s economics – with four engines and as many as 600 seats – made it unsuitable for post-Covid operations.

The double-deck jet has been retired from some airlines’ fleets, while other carriers – including British Airways – had flown their A380s to long-term storage locations.

But BA has now taken the industry by surprise by bringing back five of its 12 giant jets next month – initially on short-haul hops to Frankfurt and Madrid.

Rob Burgess, editor of the frequent flyer site Head for Points, wrote: “According to internal scheduling documents which we have seen, British Airways is bringing five of its 12 A380 aircraft back into service from next month.”

The first flights will start on 8 November from London Heathrow to Frankfurt (408 miles) and Madrid (773 miles) – the latter around one-10th of the plane’s maximum range.

They will enable pilots to reaquaint themselves with the aircraft after a 20-month grounding.

Head for Points says that BA plans to launch long-haul services with a link to Miami from 3 December, with Dubai, Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Los Angeles following on 5, 7 and 9 December respectively.

“DFW may be delayed as the necessary facilities to handle a BA A380 are not yet in place,” the website notes.

Last month the aviation data analysts Cirium reported that five out of six Airbus A380s were out of active service.

Just weeks after the jet celebrated the 15th anniversary of its first test flight from Toulouse in southwest France, Air France has announced the “definitive end” of flights with the A380.


The aviation schedule analyst, Sean Moulton, said: “The re-introduction of the A380 shows an increase in demand this winter and while only five of the 12 are to be used at first, it shows intent for the airline to keep the aircraft, despite many of its competitors removing it from the fleet.

“With slots still precious at Heathrow, the aircraft will be paramount for airlines serving the capital, however, it remains to be seen what routes they return to in the long run - and which markets rebound quickest.”

The Independent has asked British Airways for a response.
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/ne ... ml?r=93101
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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#2 Post by Woody » Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:10 pm

Woody? Does Cape Town have the faiclities to handle such a big aircraft. It could the 747.


No it doesn’t, there was an upgrade in the pipeline, but that was before the pandemic and as I’m sure you know BA retired all it’s remaining 747’s last year, much earlier than was planned :(
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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#3 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:14 pm

Woody wrote:
Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:10 pm
Woody? Does Cape Town have the faiclities to handle such a big aircraft. It could the 747.


No it doesn’t, there was an upgrade in the pipeline, but that was before the pandemic and as I’m sure you know BA retired all it’s remaining 747’s last year, much earlier than was planned :(
Slaapstad loses out to Johannesburg, yet again.

http://www.travelstart.co.za/blog/briti ... th-africa/

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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#4 Post by Woody » Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:16 pm

Get ready for 12 hours in a 10 abreast 777, with no First Class upgrade for the staff :((
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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#5 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:17 pm

Woody wrote:
Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:16 pm
Get ready for 12 hours in a 10 abreast 777, with no First Class upgrade for the staff :((
Jesus wept. Please tell me you are kidding? @-)
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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#6 Post by Woody » Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:20 pm

BA did a lot of initial A380 flight crew training at Durban, but did a photo shoot with them flying past Table Mountain :-o
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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#7 Post by Woody » Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:24 pm

Here’s the link to the layout for the Ex-LGW 777 :((

https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Briti ... -200_4.php
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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#8 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:31 pm

Woody wrote:
Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:24 pm
Here’s the link to the layout for the Ex-LGW 777 :((

https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Briti ... -200_4.php
I suppose the passenger seats can't be as bad as the ones in the 747. An hour in one of those was equivalent to the pain that Helga could inflict during 12 hours at The Karl Lagerfeld Bondage Dungeons in Bremerhaven! =))
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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#9 Post by Woody » Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:48 pm

Last flight I had back from CPT was on G-CIVD, I used to hate dispatching this one as it was always going sick :ymsick:

I received an email a couple of weeks ago asking if I wanted to purchase a part of it , as it was being broken up, no chance.
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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#10 Post by Woody » Mon Oct 04, 2021 1:51 pm

Here’s the link X(

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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#11 Post by G-CPTN » Mon Oct 04, 2021 2:22 pm

How do the British Airways 'Ambassador' trips for couples 'work'?





Do the participants pay the costs (of the fares) with BA adding the extras?

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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#12 Post by Woody » Mon Oct 04, 2021 2:46 pm

This was less than two years ago :-o

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Re: BA and the Airbus A380

#13 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:06 pm

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