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Fasten your seatbelts! Plane makers usher in new era
By Yang Jian |
January 10, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA is considered one of the fastest-growing, most lucrative airline markets in the world, so it's no surprise Airbus, the aircraft-manufacturing arm of European aerospace company EADS, is anxious to promote the entry of its A380 jumbo jet in China.
The first airline in China to deploy the new aircraft is equally keen to tout its virtues. China Southern Airlines took delivery of its first A380 in October.
When the carrier took delivery of its second one in Toulouse, France, last month, I was among the guest list on a VIP flight back to China. With me on board were other journalists, some diplomats and employees of the airline. The 10-hour flight back to Beijing in the luxury of an enclosed first-class cabin certainly drove home the point that air travel is entering a new phase.
Airbus is gambling that bigger is better in the future of aviation. For carriers eager to expand capacity, like China Southern, the superjumbo is a quick means of getting more bums on seats.
The number of air passengers in China has grown about 15 percent a year in the last decade, and the China Aviation Industry Corp has estimated that the nation's carriers will add more than 4,500 planes to their fleets by 2030. That spells a lucrative market for the world's two biggest civil aviation manufacturers: Airbus and Boeing.
Big or small
However, Boeing has a very different vision for the future. Instead of bigger passenger capacity, the US company has focused on lighter, more fuel-efficient planes that can get people to their destinations faster.
All Nippon Airlines took delivery of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner about two months ago, after the launch was delayed almost three years due to technical setbacks. Passengers on the maiden flight of the Dreamliner gushed over the experience in much the same way my flight companions on the Airbus did.
From my perspective, both visions have their own pros and cons.
Bigger planes will be able to address the congestion problem besetting many of the world's main airports. Traffic hubs are overcrowded as more and more people travel.
At Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, flights between Shanghai and Beijing are delayed for an hour on average every day. About 80 percent of flight delays on the popular Shanghai-Beijing route are due to congestion.
A big plane like the A380 that can carry more than 500 passengers at one go looks to be a good bet. Many operators of the A380, such as Singapore Airlines, mainly use the superjumbo between major air traffic hubs.
Whether that makes ticket prices any cheaper remains to be seen. The airlines, at least, are promising cost savings. "It will cost only 30 liters of jet fuel for each passenger for every 100 kilometers on the A380, equivalent to the consumption of a big passenger bus," said Liu Qian, deputy manager of China Southern.
Co-existence
However, some civil aviation experts are questioning the profitability of big planes.
"The operating and maintenance costs are higher than for other passenger jets because of the big sizes," said Zou Jianjun, deputy professor at the Civil Aviation Management Institute of China.
Take the A380 as an example. Its operator can make a profit only when the passenger load factor is higher than 65 percent, according to Zou.
Another disadvantage of the Airbus 380 is the modification it requires at airports where it lands.
Terminal building have to be upgraded to handle loading and unloading of so many passengers at one time. Pudong and Hongqiao airports in Shanghai are among those undertaking renovations. How passengers react to the larger crowds at the gates remains to be seen.
On the other hand, the biggest advantage for the smaller, mid-size passenger planes is they are lighter, faster and more friendly to the environment. Take the Boeing 787 as an example. The Dreamliner, with a carrying capacity of 300 passengers, can save 20 percent on fuel costs, compared with other planes of the similar size. Randy Tinseth, a Boeing vice president for marketing, said Boeing 787 can save up to US$20 million operational cost for a carrier every year.
Its low-carbon efficiency should make it popular with carriers on European routes after the European Union begins charging carriers a carbon emissions tax to land at its airports after January 1, said Zhu Qingyu, an official with the China Air Transport Association.
Zhou Jisheng, former deputy designer of China's first domestically developed jet, the ARJ-21, sees room for both superjumbo and mid-sized planes to co-exist. Big planes can transport passengers to the busiest air hubs, like London's Heathrow and France's Charles de Gaulle, while mid-sized planes will be ideal for quick, direct flights to smaller airports, he said.
The first airline in China to deploy the new aircraft is equally keen to tout its virtues. China Southern Airlines took delivery of its first A380 in October.
When the carrier took delivery of its second one in Toulouse, France, last month, I was among the guest list on a VIP flight back to China. With me on board were other journalists, some diplomats and employees of the airline. The 10-hour flight back to Beijing in the luxury of an enclosed first-class cabin certainly drove home the point that air travel is entering a new phase.
Airbus is gambling that bigger is better in the future of aviation. For carriers eager to expand capacity, like China Southern, the superjumbo is a quick means of getting more bums on seats.
The number of air passengers in China has grown about 15 percent a year in the last decade, and the China Aviation Industry Corp has estimated that the nation's carriers will add more than 4,500 planes to their fleets by 2030. That spells a lucrative market for the world's two biggest civil aviation manufacturers: Airbus and Boeing.
Big or small
However, Boeing has a very different vision for the future. Instead of bigger passenger capacity, the US company has focused on lighter, more fuel-efficient planes that can get people to their destinations faster.
All Nippon Airlines took delivery of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner about two months ago, after the launch was delayed almost three years due to technical setbacks. Passengers on the maiden flight of the Dreamliner gushed over the experience in much the same way my flight companions on the Airbus did.
From my perspective, both visions have their own pros and cons.
Bigger planes will be able to address the congestion problem besetting many of the world's main airports. Traffic hubs are overcrowded as more and more people travel.
At Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, flights between Shanghai and Beijing are delayed for an hour on average every day. About 80 percent of flight delays on the popular Shanghai-Beijing route are due to congestion.
A big plane like the A380 that can carry more than 500 passengers at one go looks to be a good bet. Many operators of the A380, such as Singapore Airlines, mainly use the superjumbo between major air traffic hubs.
Whether that makes ticket prices any cheaper remains to be seen. The airlines, at least, are promising cost savings. "It will cost only 30 liters of jet fuel for each passenger for every 100 kilometers on the A380, equivalent to the consumption of a big passenger bus," said Liu Qian, deputy manager of China Southern.
Co-existence
However, some civil aviation experts are questioning the profitability of big planes.
"The operating and maintenance costs are higher than for other passenger jets because of the big sizes," said Zou Jianjun, deputy professor at the Civil Aviation Management Institute of China.
Take the A380 as an example. Its operator can make a profit only when the passenger load factor is higher than 65 percent, according to Zou.
Another disadvantage of the Airbus 380 is the modification it requires at airports where it lands.
Terminal building have to be upgraded to handle loading and unloading of so many passengers at one time. Pudong and Hongqiao airports in Shanghai are among those undertaking renovations. How passengers react to the larger crowds at the gates remains to be seen.
On the other hand, the biggest advantage for the smaller, mid-size passenger planes is they are lighter, faster and more friendly to the environment. Take the Boeing 787 as an example. The Dreamliner, with a carrying capacity of 300 passengers, can save 20 percent on fuel costs, compared with other planes of the similar size. Randy Tinseth, a Boeing vice president for marketing, said Boeing 787 can save up to US$20 million operational cost for a carrier every year.
Its low-carbon efficiency should make it popular with carriers on European routes after the European Union begins charging carriers a carbon emissions tax to land at its airports after January 1, said Zhu Qingyu, an official with the China Air Transport Association.
Zhou Jisheng, former deputy designer of China's first domestically developed jet, the ARJ-21, sees room for both superjumbo and mid-sized planes to co-exist. Big planes can transport passengers to the busiest air hubs, like London's Heathrow and France's Charles de Gaulle, while mid-sized planes will be ideal for quick, direct flights to smaller airports, he said.
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