With the first British Airways Airbus A380 almost complete and now running engine tests, the time for BA to get ready to operate the new bird in time for Summer 2013.
Rolls Royce Trent 900 Engine being mounted onto British Airways first Airbus A380 – Image Airbus S.A.S.
And that involves a lot of training. To assist, BA are commissioning a simulator at Gatwick to allow its pilots to crosstrain as needed
British Airways have 12 Airbus A380’s on order, and will be operating 20 pilots to an aircraft – the idea being one set to be flying and roatated around as needed – and that means a lot of people will need to be trained. The airline is drawing primarily from its Airbus crews who are used to “flying by wire and stick” compared to the Boeing Crews who are used to control colour and yoke – this is advice from Qantas who are a long term operator of the A380 (and sometimes don’t take too much care over their big whales in the air either…)
For those pilots coming from a Boeing background, it is back to school for 6-7 weeks on the ground before going near a simulator. Then all pilots will need a month of both simulator and flight time.
And that brings us onto first operations. Whilst no long haul operation has been confirmed or denied – the city “Hong Kong” has been discussed more than once – short haul ops are guaranteed whilst the airline gets used to type with shuttle services to Madrid looking more than likely.
However, with 52 Boeing 747’s in service, it’ll be a hard decision where to stick them to get the load vs the yield needed to make these massive aircraft earn their living.
The idea being that BA can operate 4 sectors a day with the aircraft, and build up pilot time with it. Air France used this exact method of getting their crews up to speed with their A380’s (as did ANA when they launched the 787).
When British Airways A380’s enter service, it will the 3rd operator in Oneworld to operate the type. The others are of course Qantas and member-elect Malaysia Airlines.
Other operators of the A380 include:
- For Star Alliance: Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Thai Airways International
- For SkyTeam: Air France, Korean Air, China Southern,
- Non Aligned: Emirates
Yes, it’s just another aircraft – a big one at that. Some of you I know want BA to buy the 747-8I (and the list of buyers for that is still pitifully small), but it is still one aircraft I’d like to try…
… on the top deck of the plane obviously 😉
Do they have seats downstairs? 😉
Depends where they stick BA First. Then you could be stuck downstairs! 😉
Top deck has only Business class and Premium Economy class. The lower deck has first class and Economy