Qantas A380 seating plan has leg-room and luxury

Jul 25 2007 by Dave Jones, Liverpool Daily Post

AUSTRALIAN flag carrier Qantas Airways says the A380 superjumbo jets it is buying from Airbus will have just 450 seats – even though the aircraft is capable of carrying almost twice as many people.

The airline has 20 of the £160m jets on order, with the first due to be delivered in August 2008.

Qantas said configuration means there will be 14 seats in first class, 72 in business class, 32 in its new premium economy class and 332 in economy class. The first class seats can be turned into beds.

The business class cabin is set to have its own lounge on the upper deck, with a self-service bar, and the in-flight entertainment system will allow passengers to access the internet, with wireless connection for those with their own laptops.

Wings for the superjumbo are manufactured at the Airbus factory at Broughton, near Chester.

The aircraft manufacturer has won orders for about 170 of the aircraft, but it will need to sell around 420 to break even on the development cost of the giant jet.

But it has been struggling to get the A380 into serial production after problems with the complex wiring of the jet in France and Germany.

Initial deliveries of the aircraft are running two years behind schedule, but the company confirmed this week that the first will be delivered to launch customer Singapore Airlines in a matter of weeks.

The biggest customer for the A380 is Middle East airline Emirates which has 47 on order. It is planning to seat 644 passengers on its superjumbo flights from its Dubai hub to Asia and India, while flights to Heathrow will carry 514 passengers and those to New York, 489.

Qantas Airways’ low-cost subsidiary Jetstar says it wants to place a large order for Airbus A320 aircraft to meet its growth plans for Australia and Asia.

Meanwhile a dispute at the World Trade Organisation between Europe and Washington over state subsidies and support for Airbus and Boeing aircraft development has taken a new turn.

The European Commission has dismissed as “unrealistic” US government claims that Airbus has received about £140bn in public subsidies.

david.r.jones@dailypost.co.uk