New high capacity airplanes

Quote: Pacomartin

No one as of yet, has tried a single class configuration to load more than 800 seats in the jet. This super high dense configuration was supposed to be the main selling point of the airframe. It would save fuel, and reduce costs by flying ultra long ranges with one (albeit large) crew.

I fret about all wide bodies from time to time, because eventually one will be involved in a serious accident. If an A380 with over 600 passengers ever crashes, it will be a major catastrophe.

No plane is inherently unsafe, but no plane and no crew are 100% guaranteed free of defects, either. In fact, one A380 has already been in a serious accident. It was partly luck the crew was able to bring it down safe. Not least having two additional pilots in the flight, aside from the regular 3-pilot crew.

Look it up. Qantas Flight 32: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qantas_Flight_32

Delta and United are the last 2 remaining domestic carriers still operating 747s. United will end all 747 service by the 3rd quarter of 2018. Delta will stop flying them by the end of 2017.

It's kind of sad, actually.

Quote: reno

Delta and United are the last 2 remaining domestic carriers still operating 747s.

Did they always operate them, or did they inherit them in their most recent mergers?

Quote:

United will end all 747 service by the 3rd quarter of 2018. Delta will stop flying them by the end of 2017.

It's kind of sad, actually.

What's sad is the Queen of the Skies will close out her career hauling cargo.

But this phasing out of the last US-operated 747s perfectly illustrates that no US airline will ever order an A380. Oh, they might pick up a used one or three, perhaps, if fuel prices stay low and they can get it cheap. But I wonder what they'd do with any of them. They obviously don't need the passenger capacity, and US airlines strike me as the least likely to set up amenities like showers or bars.

I wonder who'll do the last ever 747 passenger flight? Possibly Korean, Lufthansa, or any other airline that picked up a 747-8i. But that will be many years from now.

Quote: reno

Delta and United are the last 2 remaining domestic carriers still operating 747s. United will end all 747 service by the 3rd quarter of 2018. Delta will stop flying them by the end of 2017.

It's kind of sad, actually.

It is kind of sad.

When you fly Delta out of DTW, they have some of their huge international gates right near the main entrance to the terminal. So often times, one of the first things you'll see as you enter the terminal is a giant 747 sitting there. It's pretty neat.

Delta inherited the 747's from Northwest.

Quote: Dalex64

Delta inherited the 747's from Northwest.

When I see a 747 in Delta livery, old or new, it just seems wrong. No idea why that is, but it left me with the feeling Delta didn't use to have 747s.

I wonder if United got them on its own, or bought some of Pan Am's along with their transpacific routes...

Quote: Nareed

I wonder if United got them on its own, or bought some of Pan Am's along with their transpacific routes...

No, Pan-Am never operated any 747-400's, and that is the only model that Delta and United have.

Quote: Dalex64

No, Pan-Am never operated any 747-400's, and that is the only model that Delta and United have.

Oh, I see.

Back in my very much more active period of plane spotting and such, Delta and United, among others, didn't operate flights to MEX. I knew those airlines, and others, from trips to the US. They began operations to Mexico when other airlines went broke and these took advantage of the existing demand. The same is so for other routes.

So I wondered whether they also bought planes from the dead airlines. You know, Western, Brannif, Pan Am, Eastern, etc. Those all used to fly down here

Quote: Nareed

They obviously don't need the passenger capacity, and US airlines strike me as the least likely to set up amenities like showers or bars.

Eventually they'll need the passenger capacity. For example, United has 74 Boeing 777s, and their average age is 17.5 years. Those planes can't fly forever. It's a obviously a smaller aircraft than an A380, but "small" is a relative word: United crams 364 passengers into their newest 777 configuration.

Quote: Nareed

I wonder who'll do the last ever 747 passenger flight? Possibly Korean, Lufthansa, or any other airline that picked up a 747-8i. But that will be many years from now.

This pie chart of 747 carriers is from January 2016: