Which city-country has the most A380 services?

[SteveJohnson]

I was in the USA last month, flew QF A380 there and back and I was surprised how many American colleagues I spoke to had never flown on an A380. Well maybe that's not a surprise because so many Americans don't have passports! But at the US airports it also struck me how few A380s I saw compared to Sydney. Even on my flight back into LAX to head home, we taxi'd past the Qantas A380 and you could hear a lot of people (all Americans) in the plane going "Oh, wow, look, that's that big double-decker A380". Except for one who said it was "the new Boeing 787". Hey, if it's bigger it must be American, right?

On the way home, again seeing no other A380s at LAX, I got to thinking about how many A380s we have in Sydney. Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, next year Thai, maybe even MAS if they come back to Australia (big "if"!).

We must have one of the highest numbers of A380 services.

Singapore might beat us as they will also have BA's new A380 next year, according to AusBT but HK will be first, see BA British Airways first Airbus A380 routes Hong Kong New York Singapore Beijing - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller.

London is probably the king as they have QF, SQ, EK and MH right now, and next year TG and of course BA!

Does anybody know if there are any cities with a larger number of A380 airlines flying in and out?

 

[markis10]

Considering EK has 25, you seem to be missing the obvious busiest airport for A380s! If you have been following the ask the pilot thread you would know why LAX is a desert when it comes to A380s as the airport is constrained in space for its movement. New York has been the number one non A380 home airport for A380 ops for some time.

 

[NM]

I would have to assume this either Dubai or Singapore. However, on my visit to LAX in September I saw 6 A380s from 5 different operators in a matter of a few mins (2 x QF, KE, SQ, AF and CZ). And of course none of them operated by US based airlines!

 

[SteveJohnson]

Considering EK has 25, you seem to be missing the obvious busiest airport for A380s!

No, I'm interested in the airport with the most A380 services from different airlines, not the most A380s all up... I think it would be London, if not already then definitely next year. Still we are well looked after, some might even say 'spoilt', with the A380 choices we have, we've been used to the A380 for so long now that it seems strange to think of big countries and big airports where it's a novelty!

 

[markis10]

No, I'm interested in the airport with the most A380 services from different airlines, not the most A380s all up... I think it would be London, if not already then definitely next year. Still we are well looked after, some might even say 'spoilt', with the A380 choices we have, we've been used to the A380 for so long now that it seems strange to think of big countries and big airports where it's a novelty!

Thats New York, with CDG a close second!

By the way there is a good blog here about why there is a space problem at LAX:

http://fromthecontroltower.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/axis-of-bedevil.html

The third member of the Axis of Bedevilment is the Airbus 380, which is even worse. As I recently mentioned, Runway 24 Right is the preferred arrival runway for the A380 because there are less ground handling considerations for getting it to Gate 123 than there are for the other terminal gate that can accommodate it. Once the A380 turns onto AA, both of the 24s become unusable. Holding it on Taxiway BB is an option to allow the controller to continue using Runway 24 Left, but the Right is still unavailable. And those are the only taxiways that aircraft is allowed to use. In fact, if the A380 lines up on Runway 24 Left for departure and is then unable to begin takeoff for some reason, the first allowable taxiway for the aircraft to exit the runway is AA, about a mile and a half down the runway. It takes an A380 about five minutes to taxi from one end of that runway to the other. I got to learn this first-hand a year or so ago. Which would have been fine if it had been the only aircraft wanting to use that runway. But it wasn't.

The south side of the airport doesn't fare any better with the A380. Unlike the north side, where it can use either of the runways, on the south side there is only one runway approved for the A380: Runway 25 Left. If the A380 has exited 25 Left onto Taxiway H, both of the 25s become unusable. If the A380 holds perpendicular to the runways, the one behind the aircraft is still unusable. If the A380 exits onto Taxiway B, then Runway 25 Right is still unusable. Because of ground obstructions, the A380 can't use Runway 25 Right for arrival or departure; instead it either uses Runway 25 Left, which can only be reached by crossing both runways and taxiing on Taxiway A. As I've already related, crossing runways is a hassle because if you can't get the aircraft across both runways at one time, you lose the use of the runway behind the A380 while it's holding. And so the preferred departure runway is 24 Left, even if the A380 was parked at Gate 101 on the south end of the International Terminal. Which means that it has to taxi all the way to the other side of the airport, which requires a squad of escort vehicles to clear the access roads. And then once the A380 has departed off Runway 24 Left, we still can't use it for other aircraft until the airport operations guys have inspected the length of the runway for damage caused by the A380's departure. We've lost a number of runway signs due to the jet blast from its outboard engines, and the debris created is then a hazard to subsequent aircraft.

 

[dajop]

Thats New York, with CDG a close second!

There are, IIRC, currently 9 operators of A380s being: AF, CZ, EK, KE, MH, LH, QF, SQ & TG

5 airlines (SQ, AF, KE, EK & LH) operate to JFK. HKG also currently has 5 airlines operating them there (EK, KE, QF, SQ & TG). LAX will also have 5 operators as of tomorrow when CZ start CAN-LAX services, being AF, CZ, KE QF & SQ .

 

[markis10]

There are, IIRC, currently 9 operators of A380s being: AF, CZ, EK, KE, MH, LH, QF, SQ & TG

5 airlines (SQ, AF, KE, EK & LH) operate to JFK. HKG also currently has 5 airlines operating them there (EK, KE, QF, SQ & TG). LAX will also have 5 operators as of tomorrow when CZ start CAN-LAX services, being AF, CZ, KE QF & SQ .

Glad I am not a LAX controller, think CDG is five now as well.

 

[richie9x]

There are, IIRC, currently 9 operators of A380s being: AF, CZ, EK, KE, MH, LH, QF, SQ & TG

5 airlines (SQ, AF, KE, EK & LH) operate to JFK. HKG also currently has 5 airlines operating them there (EK, KE, QF, SQ & TG). LAX will also have 5 operators as of tomorrow when CZ start CAN-LAX services, being AF, CZ, KE QF & SQ .

Also 5 airlines current operate A380s to Singapore - SQ, QF, AF, LH, TG. Briefly it will be up to 6 when EK start flying an A380 there in December, but will soon drop back to 5 afterwards when TG drop their A380 from the route. And of course QF will stop next year.

 

[Berlin]

maybe even MAS if they come back to Australia (big "if"!).

:shock: Did I miss something there- what about them "coming back" to Australia???

 

[mannej]

:shock: Did I miss something there- what about them "coming back" to Australia???

Talking about the MH 380 coming back to AU, as the plan has changed to redeploy their 380's elsewhere for the time being

 

[markis10]

:shock: Did I miss something there- what about them "coming back" to Australia???

Its in a scheduling sense, as opposed to a physical sense!

 

[Berlin]

Talking about the MH 380 coming back to AU, as the plan has changed to redeploy their 380's elsewhere for the time being

Ah, okay- get it now! Also wasn't aware of that even so good that I picked that one up now