Flying
on the Airbus A380 superjumbo, dubbed the new "queen of the skies" as
it seeks to end the long-held reign of the Boeing 747, will be the most
exclusive experience commercial air travel has to offer for many months
to come. From October 28, you have a choice of only one route,
Singapore to Sydney, and a choice of only one carrier, Singapore
Airlines.
After the years of hype about how the world's biggest
commercial passenger jet will radically change the flying experience,
and all the heartache of Airbus's inability to deliver the plane on
time, the day has finally arrived.
The
first scheduled service is due to take off next Sunday from Singapore's
Changi airport. The first passengers, though, will be bidders at a
charity auction who will fly on the same route to and from Sydney this
Thursday. One bidder paid $100,380 to sample one of the carrier's
first-class suites.
For those who can wait, Singapore will
finally receive a couple more A380s in the first few months of next
year, allowing the airline to bring the superjumbo on to its route to
London Heathrow in February or March. By May, its fourth A380 should be
flying from Singapore to Tokyo.
Due to severe problems fitting
the 530km of wiring needed to run the systems on each aircraft, Airbus
is having to hand-build the early A380s. As a result, it will be August
before other carriers, Emirates and Qantas, receive their first
deliveries. Emirates, the fast-growing Dubai-based carrier, has 55 on
order, Qantas 20 and Singapore 19. It will be 2010 before Airbus
reaches the planned production rate of four a month, barring further
hold-ups.
So, for the moment, Singapore Airlines has the field to
itself. Chew Choon Seng, the carrier's chief executive, was all smiles
this week at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse as he led the way aboard
the world's first double-decker airliner, to show for the first time
how his airline has made use of the unique amount of space offered by
the A380.
The flying experience of passengers promises to be
different but not that different. Forget the scares about being caught
in a crush of many hundreds of passengers. Although the A380 has been
certified through evacuation tests for up to a staggering 853
passengers, Singapore Airlines has fitted 471 seats in three classes -
12 in first class, 60 in business (all on the upper deck) and 399 in
economy (split between the decks). That is almost 100 more than the
375-seat lay-out on its Boeing 747-400s, which will gradually be phased
out of service.
Qantas is equipping its A380s with 450 seats in
four classes: first, business, premium economy and economy. Emirates
plans to operate three versions for different routes ranging from a
489-seat, three-class lay-out for long haul flights, a 517-seat spread
across three classes and a high density 644-seat for two-class
configurations for medium-range flights.
For Singapore Airlines, "the pièce de resistance
," says Chew, is the first-class suite. It is offering the opportunity
to create the first double bed on a commercial jet as it sets out to
reinvent the concept of luxury air travel. Eight of the suites are
beside windows, but four are between the aisles, and for each pair the
central partition can be lowered to produce the double bed.
Each
of the 12 suites in first class is a private compartment with sliding
doors, reaching up to about shoulder height, and fabric screens.
The
double bed lay-out received a romantic presentation at this week's
unveiling - red petals were scattered across the cream sheets and there
was a tray on the bed cover with champagne and a bowl of strawberries.
The
privacy offered is only relative, however. Air safety regulations
determine that cabin crew can check on the well-being of their
passengers and see if they are observing safety rules - such as not
smoking in bed, even in first class - and the fabric blinds at the
windows of the compartments have two discreet see-through gauze panels.
But
Singapore Airlines has at least achieved part of Sir Richard Branson's
vision for A380 travel at Virgin Atlantic, which takes its first A380s
in 2013. He famously suggested he could offer both double beds and an
onboard casino so that his passengers could get lucky twice.
Singapore
Airline's new first class enhancements come at a price: a premium of
20-25 per cent above its first class fares on other aircraft.
The
suites provide the marketing magic but Singapore Airlines has adopted a
hard-headed business approach generally to the use of space on the
superjumbo. There are no duty-free shops, casinos, exercise gyms,
showers or bowling alleys as suggested in the wilder hype of the A380's
initial marketing.
"The reality is that we are all commercial
enterprises," says Chew. "We must look at the revenue-generating
opportunities of the floor space. We could not find [enough] customers
willing to pay to justify not having seats and instead having space
[for] common use. The first Boeing 747s had lounges and bars on their
upper decks but it was not long before all the airlines put seats up
there and began generating revenue."
In business class, Singapore
Airlines is also raising the stakes. All the seats are forward facing,
have aisle access and unrivalled space, with a length of 76in and a
width of 34in making them comfortable flatbeds.
Each business
class seat has a 15.4in LCD screen with USB ports, in-seat power,
designer bedding, dining ware by Givenchy and an enlarged dining table.
Back
in economy, where most travellers will experience the A380 first, the
new seats, designed of lighter, thinner materials, provide more legroom.
With
a maximum take-off weight of 560 tonnes, the A380 is the giant of the
skies but, at take-off, it has half the noise of the Boeing 747-400.
On
a test flight this year, cruising at 41,000ft above the Pyrenees and
along the west coast of France, the most noticeable difference was the
quiet and calm on board. You don't have to raise your voice to carry on
a conversation during take-off and, later on in the flight, it was
almost disconcerting to hear conversations from the other side of the
cabin.
And despite all that extra space in all three cabins and
the sense of quiet, if you really still cannot get to sleep at night,
there are 100 films, 180 TV programmes and a library of 700 music CDs
on the inflight entertainment system. If you want to to stretch your
legs, a spiral staircase at the back links the economy class cabins on
the two decks. The first A 380s may not have a gym, as the early hype
suggested, but this is ultimately a double-decker airliner and it comes
with its built-in stairmaster, whichever class you happen to be in.
Kevin Done is the FT's aerospace correspondent
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
On
Thursday, there could be a scramble to reach gate F31 at Changi airport
in Singapore, where passengers will board the first commercial flight
of the new Airbus A380.
But for those who can contain their
excitement and choose instead to kick off this historic day for world
aviation with a gentle stroll around Changi, there are reasons to be
impressed by the airport itself.
Almost
26 years since its opening, Changi continues to collect almost every
prize bestowed on airports by the tourism and travel industries (last
year alone it grabbed another 25 of these eclectic awards). More
silverware should soon be on the way, as Changi prepares to open in
January a third, state-of-the-art terminal, as well as to upgrade the
original terminal.
Changi, however, is not the only Asian airport
to excel. In fact, recently it was beaten to the top spot by Hong Kong
in the closely watched survey of passenger satisfaction conducted by
Skytrax, the aviation research organisation. Overall, Asian airports
took four of the top five positions in the Skytrax survey, with Seoul
Incheon and Kuala Lumpur completing the Asian triumph. Munich, at
number four, was their leading challenger while Vancouver, which ranked
ninth, was the only North American airport in the top 10.
The
7.8m passengers surveyed by Skytrax put ease of airport usage and
waiting times at the top of their list of priorities, with a focus on
the efficiency of security checks at a time of heightened concern about
terrorism. On that level, it is very hard to fault Changi, which
operates a decentralised screening system, with all the checking done
at individual gates, thereby avoiding the long queues and bottlenecking
that has become one of the most irksome aspects of travelling through
many of the world's largest airports.
As with almost every aspect
of the airport, the Singaporean authorities did not wait for the
aftermath of 9/11 to adopt a decentralised screening approach, which
requires more staff but makes the process smoother for passengers.
"It's really always been our philosophy to do things well ahead of the
demand," says Esther Ee from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.
While
that might sound like a tired marketing cliché, it is a view endorsed
by most pundits and is consistent with the history of Changi's
development since 1975, when the Singaporean government agreed to build
a new airport. In fact, even the decision to have a third terminal was
part of the original master plan for Changi, at a time when Singapore
Airlines - a product of the political divorce between Malaysia and
Singapore - was still in its infancy and Singapore's traffic was just a
fraction of what it is today.
Tony Davis, chief executive of
Tiger Airways, which is based in Singapore and is one of Asia's fastest
growing low-cost carriers, sees a contrast between airport planning in
Asia and the "piecemeal approach" in Europe. Davis, a former BMI
British Midland executive, says: "European airports have tended to be
built when demand arises while Asian airports seem to be built for the
future. We build on the basis on what is needed and then get very
surprised two years later when we find we need to build again."
Another
case in point is Kuala Lumpur's decision to add a low-cost terminal to
help develop AirAsia, the region's biggest budget carrier. Derek
Sadubin, chief operating officer at the Centre for Asia Pacific
Aviation, a Sydney-based consultancy, says: "The Malaysians were very
quick at identifying AirAsia's requirements and it shows how some of
these Asian airports have been excellent in their long-term planning
for the growth that is coming. You're seeing this now in the Middle
East."
To be fair to Europeans, however, the building process has
also been eased in Asia by the fact that some of the airports have been
built on reclaimed land - triggering less debate over planning
permission - and generally from scratch. Hong Kong opened its new
airport on Lantau island in 1998, but has already lost its
new-kid-on-the-block status to several other important transit airports
in cities such as Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. In China, meanwhile, 73
airports are under construction and a further 134 projects are being
considered.
Stephen Miller, chief executive of Oasis, one of the
five airlines that is using the second terminal that opened in Hong
Kong in June, says: "In much of Asia you have been able to start with a
clean sheet and that's a huge difference. In places like Heathrow or
Frankfurt, it's been about just adding on."
Asian airports such
as Hong Kong and Singapore, where flying occurs around the clock, have
also developed their transit business, in part by working hard to
promote outside activities for passengers with several hours to kill
between flights. Hong Kong recently opened a golf course within walking
distance of the airport, while anybody facing a five-hour wait in
Changi might consider one of the free guided tours of the city-state
that have long been on offer.
Sadubin from CAPA says: "Airports
in this region have generally been part of a broader national economic
and tourism strategy. Singapore is the model that has been replicated
and used by several other governments."
Another feature in both
Singapore and Hong Kong is what could be deemed the democratisation of
its more luxurious facilities, with access to premium lounges as well
as activities such as swimming or fitness training open to anybody with
a credit card rather than only upper-class passengers.
Fiona
Song, business officer for Plaza Premium, a company that runs paying
lounges across Asia, expects the concept to gain popularity in regions
such as North America, where Plaza Premium now operates in Vancouver.
"I also really think that it makes for better lounges,'' she argues.
"People who pay for something are more demanding and expect better
services, otherwise they don't come back."
Raphael Minder is an FT correspondent based in Hong Kong
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
On
the flight deck, we have Captain Greg, who's contemplating the end of
his career as he frets about his health, assisted by tyro first officer
Dan. The passengers are in the capable hands of (increasingly flying
phobic) cabin manager Selina. Then there's Nigel, the purser in first
class, resigned to the fact that he will never see promotion but taking
vicarious pleasure in the affluence of those he looks after. There's
contentedly unambitious Wendy and a cast of other crew in lesser cabins
such as Becky, who "knows some hosties wear wedding rings so they at
least appear married or, as someone once told her, because it attracts
pilots".
No one has a surname in Henry Sutton's determinedly undramatic but meticulously observed novel Flying
, a kind of literary Air Babylon, about the crew of an aircraft as it
flies between Heathrow and JFK. The plot is mostly incidental but a
succession of interior monologues reveals not just the crews'
characters and the tensions between them, but a lot about the logistics
of flying - the cloud forms, the coordinates, the radio dialogue
between pilots and air traffic control and the minutiae of life on
board. Air stewarding may seem like a routine occupation but staff know
neither where they'll be going, nor who their colleagues will be, nor
which cabin they'll be assigned to when they report for a shift. This
uncertainty is aggravated by the jet lag, disorientation and exhaustion
that goes with the job, not to mention the sense of responsibility a
small underpaid team can feel in overseeing nearly 400 passengers.
But
if there's a lot in Flying to make one sympathise with cabin crew,
there are equally details you would probably rather not know. Not least
that "there used to be this fad when everyone, the girls as well as the
guys, held contests to see how many rolls they could get into their
knickers after they'd been warmed - the record stands at eight". Which
explains, perhaps, why in economy at least, most airlines now serve
packaged bread.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
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