Airbus

TO: Airlines

FROM: Frank A Herr

DATE: August 3, 2005

SUBJECT: Proposal for airlines to use the Airbus A380

Problems

As more regulations come out for maintenance on aircraft, the more expensive it becomes to maintain aircraft to keep them airworthy. Bill Burchell says, "There is a need for easier accessibility in the aircraft compartments to work more effectively and quickly." Also, there is a big problem with the recent rise in fuel cost. The price of aviation gas has risen over a dollar in the pass year. There is no relief in site, and there needs to be a new way to reserve fuel. With this there is a need to find a way to possibly make fewer trips possibly or use more fuel efficient engines. One way to solve this is making a bigger aircraft so I need of more aircrafts would be necessary (Ott). With the current Boeing 737 which is the most frequently used aircrafts there is simply not enough room on these aircraft to fly to certain place so therefore another aircraft is needed. With newer technologies there are currently aircraft engines that burn less fuel. There is a need to build an aircraft that could use this new type of technology. Another problem with more people taking to the sky there is more congestion at major airport than ever before. Some things that congestions are doing is delaying flight by sometimes hours and some aircraft up in the air having to hold in a holding pattern for excessive amounts of time. A bigger aircraft will relieve the congestion by eliminating some of the aircraft needed to fly.

Recommendation

Airlines should add the Airbus A380 to their fleet. This aircraft is by far the largest aircraft ever built. In some fleets this will take the place of more than 10 jets (Ott). The idea of this aircraft was started more than 10 years ago, and finally this year the first test flight was done. The test flight happened earlier this year and went very successful. The crew explored the aircraft capabilities and all the primary flight test objectives were met. The capacity to carry up to 1.5 times what the competing Boeing 747 can, and able to hold more cargo than ever will make this aircraft more effective over long flights compared to smaller aircraft. With this much space on an aircraft there are many different ways that a cabin configuration could be set up. One idea is possibly catering to the wealthy by setting up a small casino. Another idea was to split the aircraft into hotel rooms for long range flights. With this big of an aircraft and the weight it is capable of carrying the possibilities are endless. Currently the projected date of this aircraft to be in service is the second quarter of 2006.

Features of the Airbus A380

The Airbus A380 has several features that make it stand out from other aircrafts, which include the following:

Ð'* Glass cockpit

Ð'* Cabin configurations

Ð'* New light weight composite skin

Glass cockpit

The Airbus A380 will have eight interactive large displays on the main panel, with a cursor control that is somewhat like a mouse that you would use for a computer. The displays provide a much larger screen area and clearer presentations than any other aircraft. With the head up display, mainly used for approaches, it will increase the situational awareness of the pilot making this a very easy aircraft for pilots to fly. The cockpit has been design to be halfway between the two passenger decks so the pilot's eye line is basically the same as on any other large aircraft. As seen in Figure 1 below, the cockpit is in between the two sets of windows. This not only makes it easier for the pilots to see out, it also improves the aerodynamics at the nose of the aircraft, therefore reducing noise levels in the cockpit.

Figure 1