Airbus A380 Effects on the World

Airbus A380 Effects On The World’s International Airports
Andrew Lee
18851 Kentfield Place
Rowland Heights, CA91748

AVM 372 Airport Management
Fall 2008
Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Abstract

There are two major jet airplane manufacturers which are Boeing and Airbus, and both companies are trying to invent some comfortable, gorgeous, and energy saving airplanes for the airline passengers. A selective critical analysis of the effects of the Airbus’s new generation aircraft which is the Airbus A380 sets a foundation for more in-depth research. Newspapers, journals, and government documents provide an overview of the effects of Airbus A380 to aviation industry. The Airbus A380 requires most of the international airports to reconstruct its airport facilities to fit the large and heavy super-jumbo aircraft.

Before airplanes were invented, people used cars for the transportation of people and cargo. If transportation was needed to deliver to overseas destinations, then they would need to use cargo ships to deliver numerous products in a month or even a year. If the weather was bad in the middle of the transportation, then the cargo ships might not have a chance to transport the cargo safely. Therefore, cargo ships are not always an effective tool to transport cargo. Luckily, airplanes were invented in 1903 by the Wright Brothers. Now, airplanes can transport large amounts of cargo and people in a short period over long distances. Airplanes really increase the efficiency of transportation. There are two major and successful aircraft manufacturers which are Boeing and Airbus. Recently, Airbus has invented a super-jumbo jet aircraft called the Airbus A-380. Their main concept was to invent a super-jumbo jet airplane that provide a comfortable flight for all of the first class, business class, and economy class passengers. Most of international airports will suffer a huge cost on infrastructure modifications because the Airbus A-380 has a very large wing span and a very large weight which is about 560,000 kilograms. When the Airbus A-380 needs to taxi on the taxiways, it will need to have a wider taxiway because this super-jumbo jet needs to have more space to separate it from the other airplanes in the airport, and the Airbus A-380 will create a large jet blast behind it. It will also slow down the traffic flow of the airport because the Airbus A-380 needs to have a larger separation due to the aerodynamic turbulence it will create. Moreover, this government also will need to spend a lot of money in training costs of the air traffic controllers on the new landing procedures necessary for the Airbus A-380. The airport may need to wait for a long time to gain back all of the investment costs. It is clear that the introduction of the Airbus A-380 will create a great impact on the airport of each country.
Airbus A-380 Slows Down Ground And Air Traffic One major effect the Airbus A-380 will create is to airports. The slowing down of ground and air traffic will occur due to being all of the other airplanes being lighter than the Airbus A-380. For example, the maximum takeoff weight for the Boeing 747-400 is about 875,000 lb (Boeing 747, 2007), and the maximum takeoff weight for the Boeing 777 Freighter is about 766,000 lb (Boeing 777, 2007). On the other hand, the maximum takeoff weight for the super-jumbo jet airplane is about 1,235,000 lb (Airbus A-380, 2007). When the super-jumbo jet airplane takes off, then the Airbus A-380 will create more wake than the Boeing 747-400 or Boeing 777 to generate more lift for the airplane because the Airbus A380 will need to suck more air into the engines. Furthermore, when the super-jumbo jet airplane lands, all of the airplanes which are waiting to takeoff will be delayed until the aerodynamic wake generated by the Airbus A-380 disappears (Reuters, 2007). As a consequence, when the super-jumbo jet airplane has just landed or taken off from the runway, almost all of the airplanes, except for the Airbus A-380, will be delayed for takeoff or landing. If jet airplanes do not land after the aerodynamic wake has disappeared, then pilots may be involved in a wake turbulence occurrence. There are no special methods to avoid the waiting process at the airport, and it can show that only one Airbus A380 can affect the whole airport’s traffic flow (Reuters, 2007).
Problems On Expanding Airspace When many airplanes are arriving for landing, all airplanes will need to have greater separation from the Airbus A-380 because the super-jumbo jet is “in the ‘Heavy’ aircraft type category” (Federal Aviation Administration, 2007). If airplanes need to have greater separation in the air, then aircraft spacing will need to be increased. As a consequence, if there are two airspaces very close together, then both of the airspace will have some places overlapping. These overlapping places will be difficult for both air traffic controllers to control because both towers do not know when they need to communicate with that traffic or not. If the airplanes are flying in the overlapping airspace, pilots will not know which tower they are going to contact because the airplane will interrupt one of the airspaces if the airline pilots only communicate with one air traffic control tower. Moreover, if all of the jet airplanes are flying properly inside their destination airspaces, there will be no problem. However, when they are all flying in the overlapping airspaces, they, sometimes, may have head on condition. As a consequence, the airline pilots may need to pay more and more attention when they are circling inside the overlapping airspace. If the diameter of the airspace cannot be changed, then the only way is to increase separations for each aircraft by increasing the height of the airspaces (Reuters, 2007). The jet airplanes may need to get permission from the air traffic controllers to fly into each level of airspaces. Furthermore, it will also increase the circling time for the jet airplanes at the airports because the airplanes need to wait for the air traffic controllers to tell them to fly into the next lower level (Federal Aviation Administration, 2007). As a consequence, all of the airplanes will need to delay for about at least for a few minutes because the airplanes need to wait for the wake turbulence on the runway to disappear (Reuters, 2007). Then the last airplane which needs to land on the airport will need to wait about an hour or more, so the airline company may need to prepare much more fuel for each particular flight. Similarly, it will also increase the cost of each flight. Therefore, the super-jumbo jet airplane limits the number of flights that airports can handle and increase the cost of each flight (Reuters, 2007).
Reconstruction Part of The Airport Facilities Airbus A-380 is a very large double-deck passenger cabin jet airplane; as a consequence, it will need the airports to reconstruct the airport facilities to meet with the super-jumbo jet airplane’s requirements because the super-jumbo jet has a totally different structure (Airbus A-380, 2007). The super-jumbo jet airplane has a double deck cabin which can carry about 555 passengers in the three class configuration (Bly, 2007b). Therefore, if the international airports want to make the boarding period faster, then they will need to increase the number of jet-bridges at each boarding gate (Aileen, 2007). All of the governments which allow the Airbus A-380 to land on their international airports will need to spend some extra money on “widening of a number of taxiways, the relocation of infringing obstacles, relocation of runway stop bars, the modification of jet blast fences, and the modification of aircraft loading bridges, fixed ground power and preconditioned air systems” (Leung, Little, & Li, 2007, p.1). For example, the Los Angeles International Airport has not been changed its airport facilities since 1960s in which the facilities are the standard for the international service in 1980s (Oldham, 2007). If the Los Angeles International Airport wants to handle some brand new type of aircraft, then it will be very tough for the airport to handle because the airport will need to re-model many other related facilities, such as the cramped ticket lobbies, waiting room, gridlocked access roads and outdated airfield. The Tom Bradley International Terminal was built in time for the 1984 Olympics; hence, the United States government is going to spend about $723.5 million to upgrade the whole terminal to meet with the 21st century’s requirements (Oldham, 2007). Therefore, the super-jumbo jet airplane is forcing the Unites States government to finish renovating the Los Angeles International Airport facilities as soon as possible because the Airbus A-380 is going to be in service in the short future.
Airports Need To Invest A Large Amount Of Money On: The airports will need to widen the taxiways to accommodate the wing span of the super-jumbo jet airplane. It is about 1.5 times the spaces needed for a Boeing 747-400 (Bly, 2007b). This widening of taxiways will prevent the super-jumbo jet airplanes’ wing hitting the other airplane’s wings (Leung, Little, & Li, 2007, p.1). Moreover, the Airbus A-380 cannot use very sharp turns onto the taxiways. Due to the takeoff weight of the super-jumbo jet airplanes being heavier than the Boeing 747-400, the airport runways will also need to be lengthened to provide enough distances for the Airbus A-380 to reach the minimum takeoff speed (V1) (Leung, Little, & Li, 2007, p.1). However, if the airports want to increase the length of the runways, then it will shorten the safety areas because the total area of an airport is already fixed. If there is an accident occurs, then the nearby communities will be affected greatly because the safety areas are not enough for the airplane to fully stop the airplane. Consequently, the nearby communities are bearing a high risk. Moreover, when the international airports lengthen the runway, then the obstacles may also need to be relocated because the super-jumbo jet airplane needs to have more space to roll back and forth between the taxiways and the runways (Leung, Little, & Li, 2007, p.1). Another facility that the airport needs to change is the runway stop bars because they may be too close to the runways due to their relocation (Leung, Little, & Li, 2007, p.1). Furthermore, pilots may not be able to see clearly the original runway stop bars easily from the cockpit. Due to the tremendous jet blast of the super-jumbo jet airplane, the airport will need to modify the jet blast fences (Leung, Little, & Li, 2007, p.1). This will prevent jet blast damaging the other publicly or privately owned facilities around the run-up area. Airports will also need to modify airplane loading bridges because the super-jumbo jet airplane is a much larger airplane. If the airports still use the original passenger loading bridge, then the passenger boarding time will be increased significantly (Leung, Little, & Li, 2007, p.1). Clearly, there need to be more passenger loading bridges to save more time on the ramp. It will also help the airplane to leave the airport on time. The ground power and preconditioned air systems also need to be changed to accommodate the size of the super-jumbo jet airplane (Leung, Little, & Li, 2007, p.1). Airports must make these changes, so they can do; if not, the airports will not have a chance to provide a better and comfortable service for the passengers. As a consequence, the airports will need to burden nearly all of the cost of reconstruction. However, the airport cannot earn back enough money from the landing fees from the airlines in a short period of time because of the limited number of flights which can land on the airport each day unless the airports can figure out how to diminish the spacing necessary for the super-jumbo jet airplanes. Overall, airports may end up earning less money from the airlines or the passenger charges each day due to the Airbus A-380.
New And Special Landing Procedures
Management Side When the Airbus A-380 needs to land at an international airport, it will need to have new and special landing procedures because it is a very different kind of airplane. The tremendous aerodynamic turbulence created by this aircraft will be significant for other airplanes. Therefore, it will affect the Air Traffic Control Facility managers and the Traffic Management Unit (TMU) because there are no people who know how to deal with the super-jumbo jet (Federal Aviation Administration. 2007). Yet in effort to smoothly run the air traffic control towers, the Air Traffic Control Facility managers will need to distribute the air traffic controllers correctly because they may only have a few air traffic controllers that know the special landing procedures for the super-jumbo jet airplanes. The air traffic control facility managers also need to create several new emergency procedures at the airport before the super-jumbo jet airplanes start their service. If not, when there is an emergency, it could create a chaotic situation at the crowded airports. Therefore, it is better for the managers to prepare thoroughly before these aircraft start their service into airports.
Air Traffic Controller Side Certainly, the air traffic controllers will also need to have specific and improved training because they will need to know how to separate other airplanes from the super-jumbo jet, without disrupting air flow or forcing onto the ground (Federal Aviation Administration. 2007). During this transition period, shortages of air traffic controllers will exist. At this time, the Federal Aviation Administration will need to spend more money to provide some refresher courses for the current air traffic controllers. The Federal Aviation Administration could produce some online courses for the current air traffic controllers, so they could take the online courses whenever they have spare time. This would save a lot of time for the air traffic controllers since they still can keep working. It would also help the Federal Aviation Administration in saving some money because they will not need to use classrooms or to hire teachers to teach the current air traffic controllers. These types of refresher courses can help the air traffic controllers to correct their careless mistakes (Federal Aviation Administration. 2007). On the other hand, when current air traffic controllers learn to memorize the original landing procedures of the new Airbus A-380, it will make the air traffic controllers’ work more complex and more difficult because of the lack of familiarity with the brand new procedure. It may be a difficult time for the older experienced air traffic controllers to learn the new procedures as this will be a lot of new information thoroughly in a short period of time. This could create a situation where the government may force older controllers to retire earlier if they are unable to learn the new procedure. Furthermore, it will also present more problems for the new generation of air traffic controllers because they will be required to learn both the old and the new landing procedures for different kinds of airplanes. Therefore, these new super-jumbo jet airplanes are forcing the air traffic controllers to learn another landing procedure in a short period of time and making the air traffic controllers’ work more complex.
Revenue of The International Airport Decrease Significantly Every airport which needs to have a renovation on their facilities will ultimately earn less money than before because the Airbus A-380 will slow down all traffic flow into the airport (Reuters, 2007). If the traffic flow slows, then the maximum passenger capacity of an airport will decrease significantly. As a consequence, the international airports may be required to increase the landing fees for each landing airplane because the international airports will want to balance their revenue. Furthermore, most airports will have already invested a tremendous amount of money before the Airbus A-380 is even in service. As an example, Los Angeles International Airport needs to spend about $50 million dollars to upgrade their airport facilities (Yu, 2007). Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is deciding to spend about $105 million to overhaul its main terminal. This is not a small amount of money (Yu, 2007). These two sample airports show that the costs of airport renovation are not cheap, and these airport facilities upgrades are only for only one particular type of airplane which is the super-jumbo jet airplane. It would seem that this tremendous amount of money may not be worth it. If airports want to earn the money back, then the airport must increase passenger capacity and traffic flow of the airport. However, the super-jumbo jet airplanes will slow down the traffic flow significantly when it is in service (Reuters, 2007). Therefore, it will not be very possible for airports to increase their passenger capacity; as a consequence, the airports will need to spend more time to earn back the cost of airport renovations. However, if the international airports want to earn back the investment money back quickly, then they will probably try to increase different kinds of fees to the airlines. Therefore, the Airbus A-380 is not a good investment for most of international airports.
Increasing The Operating Cost Of The Airlines Airline will probably need to explore increasing the ticket prices instantly due to increased costs. Passengers will need to burden the cost of these renovations of airports even though they may not want to pay for that investment. As a consequence, the passengers’ desire to travel by air will decrease because they simply cannot afford to use their entire budget on only one ticket. Furthermore, when airlines buy these airplanes, they will need to start thinking about training their pilots to fly this new super-jumbo jet airplane. Structurally, this is a totally different structure airplane (Bly, 2007b). Training is always expensive, and it will increase the total expenditure of the company. On the other hand, when the airline trains its current airline pilots, it will create a little bit shortage of airline pilots for a short period of time because the training courses may require the pilots to complete in few months. Hence, the super-jumbo jet airplane gives some financial pressure on the airline companies.
Airbus A-380 Does Not Use Less Fuels All The Time Airbus promotes that their super-jumbo jet has about a 12% lower fuel burn per seat than Boeing 747-400 (Bly, 2007b). This advantage would seem very attractive for airline companies and also good for the environment. However, this is not true all the time because the super-jumbo jet can use 12% lower fuel burn per seat when the airplane is in only one-class configuration which has about 853 passengers on board (Bly, 2007b). However, the Airbus Company is inventing the super-jumbo jet airplane with a three-class configuration which has only 555 passengers on board (Bly, 2007a). The super-jumbo jet airplane is only carrying about 65% of passengers in this configuration. Hence, the Airbus A-380 would not use less fuel than the Boeing 747-400. The super-jumbo jet airplane may increase the cost to the airlines because flights are not totally full most of the time, except during the peak seasons. Moreover, the super-jumbo jet, generally, will need to use more fuel in each flight than the Boeing 747-400 because it is a larger airplane. If airline companies are trying to replace all of the Boeing 747 to the new generation airplane – Airbus A-380, then it will increase the total expenses of each flight for the airline companies. On the other hand, if airlines cannot lower the cost of the super-jumbo jet during low seasons, then it is not a good investment because the super-jumbo jet airplane does not earn enough money to cover the cost. Furthermore, if the airplane is not used for a long period of time, it will have some new problems happen, such as rusting on the aircraft, or engine failure. Another area of importance is that the super-jumbo jet can only carry about 139 passengers more than the Boeing 747 in a three-class configuration each flight (Bly, 2007a). As a consequence, airline companies will try to transfer the expenses to the passengers instead of bearing most of the expenses themselves. Therefore, Even though the Boeing 747 is not a new generation airplane, it still can show that it is better and more efficient than the new generation airplane – Airbus A-380. The Boeing 747 will not need to slow down the traffic flow of the airport and will not require the airports to renovate the airport for only one specific airplane. Moreover, the Boeing 747 can use less fuel than the super-jumbo jet airplane.
Fuel Price Increases Rapidly And Affects The Ticket Cost The jet-A fuel price is increasing rapidly in the past few years, and it really affects the costs to the airline company because most of the expenses for each flight are fuel expenses. If the super-jumbo jet airplane needs to use 25,000 gallons more jet fuel than the Boeing 747-400, then most of the airline companies cannot afford all of the fuel expenses by themselves (Boeing 747, 2007; Airbus A-380, 2007). Therefore, the only way to reduce the jet fuel expenses is to transfer part of the jet fuel expenses to their passengers. For example, in 2003, each barrel of jet fuel was about $38 dollars (Jet Fuel Price Development, 2007). However, this low price did not last for a long time because jet fuel price has increased significantly to about $85 dollars each barrel in 2007 (Jet Fuel Price Development, 2007). This is more than a double than fuel prices in 2003. Therefore, it really produces a great impact for the airline companies because all of the airplanes are using many tons of fuel on every flight. If the jet fuel costs continue to increase rapidly in the next few years, then airline passengers will start to decrease as well because not many people can afford spending a lot of money on air fares. However, there is one type of passenger which will continue to fly by the airplane regularly: the regular business travelers. They fly regularly because they need to travel to the other countries to do business. Therefore, the super-jumbo jet airplane is not a good invention because it will need to use more jet fuel than the Boeing 747 per seat. However, if the super-jumbo jet airplane can use other source of energy other than the jet fuel, then there will be more airline companies to buy that airplane because it can save more jet fuel expenses than the Boeing 747. Moreover, it may also help the airline companies to lower the ticket prices for the passengers; then the aviation industry will flourish again. Finally, the introduction of the super-jumbo jet, in general, is not a good idea in the aviation industry because this new airplane will require three groups of people to make some adjustments. They are the managers who work for the airports, the staffs who work for the airlines, air traffic controllers, airline pilots, and the airline passengers. First, the super-jumbo jet airplane needs every international airport to change and to re-construct their airport facilities all over again for only one specific type of jet airplane. If the airports want to earn the money back, then the airport will need to spend a very long period of time because the super-jumbo jet only has about 139 passengers more than the Boeing 747 (Bly, 2007a). Then the airport can only charge a little bit more on the total weight of the super-jumbo jet airplane. Furthermore, the airports’ maximum passenger capacity will decrease significantly because of the slow air traffic flow. As a consequence, the airports will find that it is more difficult to earn back their expenses in a short period of time. If the Airbus A-380 cannot be commonly used in the aviation industry, then the airline companies will not have a chance to earn back their investment money. When the Airbus A-380 has the same consequence as the Air France Concorde which needed to retire after a short period of time, then the airports or the airlines will need to burden the whole investment expenses without any doubt? On the other hand, if the airports do not renovate the airport facilities, then the airlines which have already bought the Airbus A-380 may not have a chance to land on that airport. Consequently, the airlines will try to land on the other airports which have suitable facilities, and the airports will start to lose part of their income right away. If the super-jumbo jet airplanes need a special landing procedure, the current air traffic controllers will need to take some special or refresher courses before the Airbus A-380 is in service. As a consequence, the shortage of the air traffic controllers will become worse in the near future because the almost all of the current air traffic controllers will need to take the refresher courses during their working schedule. Therefore, this will increase pressure for the current air traffic controllers because they need to face another important examination. If not, the Federal Aviation Administration will try to replace the current air traffic controllers with new air traffic controllers. Secondly, the managers in the airlines will need to start thinking about training some current or new airline pilots to fly the super-jumbo jet airplane because the super-jumbo jet airplane is a totally different type of airplane. Lastly, the passengers are also affected by the super-jumbo jet airplane because the airlines may increase the ticket prices. Therefore, if the passengers want to have a ride on the brand new Airbus A-380, then they will need to pay more on their tickets. However, not many passengers are very interested on having a flight on the super-jumbo jet airplane; as a consequence, it will decrease their desire to have a relaxing vacation to the other countries if the ticket price increases a lot. In the future, if the two major aircraft manufacturers, which are Airbus Company and Boeing Company, can introduce a new airplane which does not need international airports to change their original facilities, then governments can save money training the current air traffic controllers and reconstructing airports. Moreover, if airports do not need to expand, then it can diminish the side effects to the communities which are around the international airport. Furthermore, airlines will be more willing to change their old jet airplanes to the brand new modern and efficient airplanes because airline companies do not need to spend extra money to train the pilots on a totally different landing procedure. When the Airbus Company and the Boeing Company introduce the new airplanes, they can think about an airplane which is flexible on the passenger capacity. If the airplane can separate into several sections, then it will be easy to remove the extra section at the airport because sometimes the airplane is not totally full of passengers. As a consequence, it could also save fuel expenses on a non-full flight for the airlines. On the other hand, the aircraft manufacturers can invent an airplane which can use other source of energy instead of fuel, such as solar energy, vegetable oil, or wastes. If this airplane can be introduced into the aviation industry, then it can decrease the air pollution on the earth. Moreover, it can also slow down the global warming effect in the earth and the shortage of the oil. One more important thing is human beings can have a better health. Therefore, inventing an airplane which is suitable and helpful for the society is very important, and human beings can enjoy living in the earth for a longer time.
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