Rob Fisher

A few weeks ago I flew on Emirates EK002 from Heathrow to Dubai.  I specifically chose that flight to try out the A380.  From the front it looks a bit ugly.

Front of A380

Once inside, the first thing I noticed was the stairs.  They look like the entrance to a London night club.  Commoners like me were not allowed up the stairs.

A380 stairs

The seats were pretty spacious for economy class.  I am six feet tall and did not feel at all cramped.  I don’t think it was much different from 747s I’ve flown on, though.  The interior didn’t look much different either, although Emirates put tiny lights on the ceiling to look like stars, which was quite pretty when the main cabin lights were dimmed.  One odd thing is the entrance to the cockpit, which rather than being on the top deck like a 747, is on the lower deck but up a few steps.  There are two sets of steps: the left set leads to the cockpit and the right set leads to toilets.

The in flight entertainment system was the best I’ve used.  The screen is nice and big, there were lots of movies, every number one single ever and some slightly better than usual but not great games.  You can plug in a USB stick and view your photos.  I managed to send an email to Michael Jennings, but didn’t get his reply even though the system told me I would.

In-flight email

Best of all were the three external cameras.  The front one was best and offered a good view of the approaching runway while landing, the downward facing one was mostly useless except shortly after takeoff when the front one only showed sky, but the most spectacular was the tail camera, even though image quality seemed slightly worse on this one.  Unusually, the system was switched on from the gate until landing, so you get to keep an eye on everything.

Tail camera

If you’re not interested in planes and you’re flying economy, you won’t notice much difference.  But if you like planes or you get to try business class or better, you’ll have a lot of fun on the A380.

Rob Fisher

I am excited because I am booked onto an Emirates flight to Bangkok via Dubai on an A380.  Ok, so I can’t afford a private suite, and none of the exit aisle seats were available (and I found out what a bassinet seat was and so avoided booking one of those), but Emirates is supposed to be one of the better airlines* so I have high expectations.  I should at least be well entertained.  The external camera views sound interesting.

My flight is not until March and the A380 starts on 1st December, so hopefully there won’t be any hiccups.  Will I be the first transport blogger to fly on an A380?

* Not everyone would agree.

Rob Fisher

I went to the Farnborough air show last weekend and took this video of the A380 taking off, flying around a bit, and landing.  The pilot made it climb and turn much quicker than I think it would on a normal passenger flight.  It was very big and very impressive.  Apologies for the shaky camera.

A380 at Farnborough from Rob Fisher on Vimeo.

Brian Micklethwait

Today, Eurostar cut its timings to and from London by twenty minutes, or whatever it is, and on the very same day, French railway workers go on strike.  Coincidence?  The usual next sentence is: “I don’t think so”, but the truth is that I have no idea.  However, if the striking railwaymen were trying to cause the maximum pain, today was surely the day to choose.  Suddenly those French railways don’t look so smooth and efficient, and the Brits are the ones sniggering and feeling superior.

By the way, the picture here, makes the St Pancras extension look rather better than my first impressions.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of transport related blogging at my place.  See also: this about another viaduct, and this about the A380.

Rob Fisher

The first commercial A380 flight happened yesterday.  I chose to link to that particular news source because they have a nice picture of a couple enjoying their private first class cabin with double bed.  It reminds me of the good old days of passenger aviation, when private cabins and restaurants were normal.  It remains to be seen whether this is a short-lived publicity gimmick with private cabins soon to be replaced with extra economy class seats, or whether luxury flights like this can be profitable.

Patrick Crozier

Last night a few of the Transport Blog crew met up in Central London.  Surprisingly enough the subject of transport did in fact crop up now and again.

One discussion we had was over the Boeing 787.  It seems that one of the big advantages of its lightweight construction is that it allows higher cabin pressures.  For some reason, it’s to do with white blood cells apparently, this means that passengers won’t be so tired when they reach their destinations.  It’s amazing how advances in technology can have strange knock-on effects.  I wonder if the Airbus 380 will be similarly blessed.  I suspect not.

Another discussion was over train gauges.  They differ between Spain and France, so how, we wondered did Rob manage to board a train that managed to take him all the way from Paris to Barcelona?  And how did they manage to make the change of gauge without him noticing?  This is how.

Patrick Crozier

It’s fun to see the economic lessons of the 1960s being replayed 40 years later.  Way back then you will remember European politicians bet the farm (that was your farm) on speed being the future of air travel.  So, they built Concorde.  Meanwhile, Boeing looked at the numbers and came up with 747.

Now, forty years on, Airbus, Europe’s champion, nothing if not quick to adapt, has bet the farm (that’s...) (probably) on that lumbering giant the A380.  A more apt corporate symbol there has never been.  Meanwhile, Boeing has checked the numbers and worked out that the future lies in fuel efficiency and direct flights to Australia.

Incidentally, in a world where planes and engines are sold separately why all this talk about the 787 being fuel efficient?