Airbus 380

Quote: Pacomartin

First Class Emirates

Thank you

Quote:

Private jets that can go over 7000 miles are uber expensive, even if you are just chartering one. For example pulling some real costs from British royal family.

Sure, but when you charter you're charged more than cost. If you own, you pay cost.

I don't want to get into a deep discussion of economics. Someone who owns a private jet doesn't do it to save money. But to get your money's worth, you have to travel frequently. I don't suppose people who pay $30,000 for a long trip do so twice a month, or even every month.

Suppose you do need to travel from NYC to the Mid-East frequently, say six times a year. I don't think a private jet, of any class, would be worth it compared to even paying outrageous sums for first class (not counting frequent flier miles).

Some movie stars look at the situation and they buy a jet and go into the leasing business... chartering their own jet when they themselves need it and chartering to other movie stars or the like at other times

Some things are required and in the Middle East appearances count for everything. Heck, even in Hollywood there are people who have to wash their car 3x weekly just so people don't think things are not going well for them.

I have no idea of what payload mixture/ "class" mixture they will want though they will surely want quiet and fuel economy just because others do, but no one in the Middle East considers contracts and delivery dates to be anything but "chips".

Quote: Fleastiff

Some things are required and in the Middle East appearances count for everything.

Emirates has 58 A380s with 90 upper deck seats apiece. They also have 143 B777 with roughly 50 business and first class seats apiece. That's a huge capacity to fill with a small country of a million people.

Those 143 B777s have only about 16 that are older than 13 years old. In contrast the entire combined USA fleet (United/Delta/American/USAir) is 155 B777s with an average age of 13 years.

The longest nonstop on a US Carrier is Delta Boeing 777-200LR from Atlanta to Johannesburg South Africa which is about $10K for a business class seat.

I wonder how many Americans are paying Emirates prices to go to the Middle East or are simply transferring there on their way to Asia.

Quote: Pacomartin

That's a huge capacity to fill with a small country of a million people.

How big is Copa Airlines compared to the population of Panama?

Quote: Pacomartin

The A380 has an 85,472 gallon tank. If there are routes over 8000 miles, I have to believe one tank will cover a round trip from JFK to Dubai. Jet fuel is $1.50 per gallon or $128K to fill the tank. So that is far less than half of the 400 economy seats at $1K apiece.

Wow, who has Jet Fuel at $1.50 a gallon? In Las Vegas the price is $4 to $5 at the FBO's. Are the big companies contracts and discounts really that cheap?

Quote: DRich

Are the big companies contracts and discounts really that cheap?

I've no idea but I fear its more complex than just some spot price somewhere. Airlines want to fly airplanes not make or lose money in fuel futures but its a way of doing business. Some fleets are old and fuel hungry, some fleets are new and thrifty. Some airlines have good contracts and some airlines pay market prices and make money as prices drop. The recent drop was a boon to Qantas but possibly of no effect to other airlines .

Quote: Nareed

How big is Copa Airlines compared to the population of Panama?

United Arab Emirates's total population is 1.4 million Emirati citizens and 7.8 million expatriates. Dubai is 2 million (the emirate and city are almost identical).

Panama is under 4 million people and Copa has 71 B737's and 12 E190's no widebodies. It has very little competition within the country as Panama Air is very small with older Fokkers.

You are correct that is a very high ratio of jets per capita, certainly much higher than Mexico, and probably much higher than the USA. So your basic point is that Panama is transit hub (just like Dubai) and has a high number of jets. But Copa is selling 12 to 16 executive class seats per jet. A flight from Panama to LAX is $740 round trip on economy $1,238 for executive promotion.

Panama to LAX is 3014 miles
Dubai to A380 destinations in Europe is (in miles)
2,700 Rome
2,830 Munich
2,928 Milan
2,960 Zurich
3,010 Frankfurt
3,210 Amsterdam
3,210 Barcelona
3,250 Paris
3,400 London
3,423 London
3,510 Manchester

So you are talking about executives shelling out an extra $250 each way for a better seat, compared to people shelling out tens of thousands of dollars extra for a flight that is comparable in length.

Quote: Pacomartin

You are correct that is a very high ratio of jets per capita, certainly much higher than Mexico, and probably much higher than the USA. So your basic point is that Panama is transit hub (just like Dubai) and has a high number of jets.

That was all my point. As these things go, it's very small and Panama City's airport fails to impress.

Some years ago Copa promoted itself as a South American airline, offering connections through panama rather than Miami. I can't see flying from Chile to Panama and then south to Uruguay or Colombia.

With only two A380's being delivered so far in 2015, I am now predicting the death of the neoA380 and a major hit in the stock price of Airbus. Airbus said that the production must be profitable this year, which means as near as possible the delivery of a jet every two weeks like clockwork.

A380 added 8 new routes in March 2015 (3 to SFO)

Air France (AF)
Paris (CDG) – San Francisco (SFO)
Paris (CDG) – Washington (IAD)

British Airways (BA)
London (LHR) – San Francisco (SFO)
London (LHR) – Singapore (SIN)

Lufthansa (LH)
Frankfurt (FRA) – San Francisco (SFO)
Frankfurt (FRA) – Los Angeles (LAX)
Frankfurt (FRA) – New York (JFK)

Emirates Airline (EK)
Dubai (DXB) – Kuala Lumpur (KUL)

Fight between CEO of Delta and Qatar Airways (Round 2)
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/tv/2015/02/18/exp-cnni-qmb-qatar-ceo-intvu-full.cnn.html

Fight between CEO of Delta and Emirates (Round 3)
http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/02/18/exp-cnni-qmb-emirates-ceo-clark-intvu.cnn?iid=ob_videoleaf_organicfooter&iref=obinsite