The Largest Passenger Plane Can Hold 850 Seats - Here's Which Airlines Use It

Airbus is one of the most familiar names in aerospace design and manufacturing, with more than 12,000 aircraft, both commercial and freight, in service worldwide. The company was established in 1969, but it can trace its roots back to a 1967 agreement between France, Germany, and England that coordinated efforts to advance the field of aviation. The first Airbus model, the A300B1, took flight in 1972. Thirty-five years later, in 2007, the largest passenger aircraft in the world, the Airbus A380, entered service — and several airlines still use it today.

The A380 is the only commercial airplane with a full-length double-deck design. This allows carriers to devote one deck to premium seats and one deck to economy seats and still accommodate more than 400 economy passengers. When it's configured for only economy passengers, this massive jet can hold 853 people. One of its closest competitors, the Boeing 747-8, can't come close, with most configurations holding about 460 passengers.

It's not only unique to fly on, the A380 is also hard to miss in the sky above you. Its distinctive shape and 262-foot wingspan, along with its four massive engines, make it a favorite for plane spotters. 

A380s in the air today

Airbus ceased production of the A380 in 2021, but it's still used for long-haul flights all over the world. The airlines that operate the A380 are British Airways, Emirates, Lufthansa, Qantas, Etihad, Asiana, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air, All Nippon Airways, and Qatar Airways. Though it has a maximum capacity of more than 850 seats, many airlines have it configured for fewer. The three-class layout with about 500 seats is popular.

Since 2007, the A380 has logged more than 800,000 flights, carrying more than 300 million passengers all over the world. Emirates has the largest fleet of A380s of any airline, which is not surprising when you consider the aircraft's range of about 8,000 nautical miles. Its flights between Dubai and London's Heathrow airport are the busiest routes consistently flying A380s.

While some airlines reportedly had big plans for the A380 when they first took flight, envisioning the ultimate luxury, casinos, and even gyms, those visions never came to fruition. In 2020, Business Insider reported that some analysts see the A380 as Airbus's biggest mistake, designed for a non-existent market. While there are still thousands of A380s in the air, commercial aviation is gravitating toward smaller, more fuel-efficient planes that can still fly long distances with fewer passengers. The Airbus A350-1000, which Qantas selected to replace its fleet of A380s, seats up to 400 passengers and has a range of 9,000 nautical miles.

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Travelore News: Japan's All Nippon Airways Expands US Service With Houston

With its new nonstop flights between Tokyo and Houston, Japan's All Nippon Airways now serves 10 cities in North America, and the CEO says he is looking for more destinations in the U.S. heartland.

All Nippon, or ANA for short, was drawn to Houston by the large number of connecting flights there to Latin America on partner United Airlines. The airline hopes travelers in the central U.S. will see Tokyo as a jumping-off spot to other points in Asia. ANA is optimistic enough in the demand that it began service last week with 250-seat Boeing 777 jets instead of the smaller Boeing 787.

Through an interpreter, CEO Osamu Shinobe discussed his airline's future plans for the U.S. and other topics in interview with The Associated Press. Following are the highlights, which have been condensed for space and clarity.

Q. How are bookings for Toyko-Houston flights?

A: The initial flight was fully booked and for June and July bookings are around 70 percent and over.

Q. Why did you decide to fly to Houston?

A: There were two attractive reasons. One is that this is one of the greatest hubs of United (ANA and United are partners in the Star Alliance, one of three global teams of airlines). And Houston being in the south of the USA, we thought this can be a good portal for our passengers to Central and Latin American countries. Also there are many Japanese companies operating near the Houston area.

Q. Will you fly to more U.S. cities? Denver, for example, is also a hub for United.

A: (With the Boeing 787) we can fly routes for which the 777 is a bit too large, such as Seattle and San Jose. We are now looking at the wide spots of the United States — that is the central region of the United States. We don't have any concrete plans for Denver yet ... (United) is already flying from Denver to Tokyo, and also if you look at the Japanese community including the Japanese business community in Denver, that is much smaller than that of Houston.

Q. How is travel demand in Japan?

A: The Japanese government is relaxing visa requirements for (visitors from) Asian countries, and therefore we see a surge in inbound (passengers) from Asian countries to Japan. And because of the economic situation of the West, we see a good strength over the Pacific as well.

Q. Is the weaker yen helping boost travel to Japan?

A: For Asian people, I think visa relaxation plays an important role. Other than Asian countries — for example, the United States or other passengers — I think a weaker yen plays an important role because it used to be 80 yen to the dollar; it's now 155 yen to the dollar. So when we speak to our travelers they say they feel hotels are cheaper.

Contributed by DAVID KOENIG, AP.

Why It's Never Been Easier to Fly To Asia

Photo by Bayne Stanley / Alamy

A China Southern 787.

Until 2012, most trips to Asia followed a familiar and exhausting pattern. Travelers would hop a flight to connect at a major U.S. hub—Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, or San Francisco—then continue to a major Asian city—Beijing, Seoul, or Shanghai—where they might then catch another flight. But in the past three years, new and more fuel efficient aircraft have made many of these stops unnecessary, and airlines have started connecting smaller cities with point-to-point flights more convenient for business and leisure travelers.

Airlines are using the 787 on many of these new flights. Older planes like the Boeing 777 and Boeing 747 have the range to fly these routes, but they cost more to operate and, because they have more seats to fill, airlines were disinclined to fly them to smaller markets. With airlines expecting hundreds of new 787s in the next five years, even more mid-sized cities should see better connections to Asia.
"You can expect any airline that has long-range ambitions is going to look at the U.S. market," says Addison Schonland, an aviation industry consultant at AirInsight. "When you consider that to be the case, you see how many Chinese airlines there are and you see what airplanes they are buying. Sooner or later they are going to look for where the money is. The money is in America."
The trend has greatly benefitted Boston. Until 2012, when Japan Airlines started flights to Tokyo, Boston had never had a nonstop flight to Asia. By June, it will have four. China's Hainan Airlines, which began flying to Beijing last year, will add Shanghai on June 20, while Cathay Pacific launches Hong Kong on May 3. All flights except Hong Kong are on 787s.

Other airports have had similar success. In 2013, Silicon Valley got its first Asian route in seven years when Japan's All Nippon Airways launched new 787 service between San Jose and Tokyo. This June, Hainan will connect San Jose with Beijing with a 787. Other new Dreamliner routes include Japan Airlines' flights from San Diego to Tokyo and United's from Denver to Tokyo.
Chinese carriers like Hainan have been the most aggressive players when it comes to adding routes. The country's fourth-largest airline, Hainan ordered 30 new 787s in March worth $7.7 billion at list prices. And other Chinese carriers are expanding, too. In December, China Southern started the first flights from Wuhan to San Francisco, while China Eastern soon plans to fly from Nanjing to Los Angeles. Air China hasn't yet added new flights from non-traditional hubs, but it's monitoring the trend, says Zhihang Chi, the carrier's vice president of North America.

As for what to expect onboard, Japanese airlines have high service standards, but Chinese carriers are generally less polished than U.S. and European carriers, and cabins tend to be far less luxurious than the ones offered by Middle Eastern airlines like Emirates and Etihad. Travelers report that, on some Chinese airlines, flight attendants speak broken English and provide spotty service. But the airlines flying to the U.S. are safe—China has the top safety rating from the Federal Aviation Administration, and in April the International Air Transport Association commended China for its "exemplary safety record"—and most observers expect they'll improve their onboard products.
"They are going to go about their business making things better and picking up traffic," Schonland says. "Right now the brands aren't well known. But once you fly Hainan—and you realize it's pretty good—you'll fly them again."

Contributed by Brian Sumers, www.cntraveler.com

 

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