SAA: a new client for the A380

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » 03 Mar 2006, 21:25

After LH announced to buy more A380, South African Airlines is thinking to lease two A380 from ILFC. This aircraft fits perfect in their expantion. They are flying with the B747-400 and A340-600 on long haul.

This is good news for SAA and for Africa.

burner737 · Post by **burner737** » 03 Mar 2006, 21:33

where will the A380 from SAA fly to then ?
ZRH and LHR ?

regards Tim

LX-LGX · Post by **LX-LGX** » 03 Mar 2006, 21:51

CPT-LHR-CPT

and

JNB-LHR-JNB

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 03 Mar 2006, 22:59

Great news. I'm looking forward to see the A380 in the SAA colours

Andries · Post by **Andries** » 04 Mar 2006, 02:17

Jummie ... So in other words, 2 SAA A380's every day

LHR will be great to visit ! Ever better than now !

I really hope the go through with this. Would be good for SAA and Airbus !

Greetz,

Andries

CX · Post by CX » 04 Mar 2006, 09:33

Airlines seems to be very very careful ordering Airbus products that are not yet in in service... like you see airlines ordering 5 A350s and then here you have 2 A380s...

Andries · Post by **Andries** » 04 Mar 2006, 13:03

CX wrote:Airlines seems to be very very careful ordering Airbus products that are not yet in in service... like you see airlines ordering 5 A350s and then here you have 2 A380s...

That all depends on the airlines ...

10 A358's from an airline like Air Europe,
10 A359's from TAM,
6 A358's and 4 A359's from TAP,

Those orders don't seem like nothing to me ...

41 A388's and 2 A38F's for Emirates,
15 A388's for Lufthansa,
12 A388's for Qantas,
10 A388's for Singapore,

Also looks quite good for an airliner like the A380 ! Remember, at first the 747 wasn't that popular too untill it was in service for some time and better versions became available (-200, -300, -400)
747-800 doesn't seem so popular at the moment with only 2 orders for only the cargo-version ...

Just my 2 cents,

Greetz,

Andries

ehamspotter · Post by **ehamspotter** » 04 Mar 2006, 16:36

Hello;

OW YEAH, i can't wait to see them!!!
Here are some model pictures: http://images.google.be/imgres?imgurl=h ... nl%26lr%3D
rgds:jeroen
[/quote]

ryanCX · Post by **ryanCX** » 05 Mar 2006, 05:15

Yea, the A380 could be operated for the Heathrow flights. Would make sense.

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » 05 Mar 2006, 10:38

And FRA?

LX-LGX · Post by **LX-LGX** » 05 Mar 2006, 10:57

Atlantis wrote:And FRA?

London has 2 x 744's to JNB and 1 x 346 to CPT daily. BA is even filling up 2 x 744's to Cape Town in high season: enough passengers thus for one A380 per evening, both for Jo'burg and Cape Town.

Frankfurt is different: there's 1 x 346 to CPT and 1 x 346 to JNB each day, and there's additional capacity on LH, their code sharing partner.

Also, LHR-passengers are more flexible on their flight date: lots of them are VFR's, whilst FRA are moreoff tourists who don't like to adapt their flight date to their holiday starting date.

(VFR : visiting friends and relatives)

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » 05 Mar 2006, 11:04

Thanks for the answer.

Captain · Post by **Captain** » 05 Mar 2006, 15:18

The LHR -> CPT or JNB market is huge and extremely lucrative!

Many white South Africans have emigrated to the UK since the end of apartheid. There are well over 150,000 South Africans living in London and many of them live permanently in the UK due to one of their parents or grandparents having the British nationality (ancestry visa scheme). There is also a lot of trade and tourism between both countries.

Virgin Atlantic, South African Airways and BA
each fly 744 and 346 with a load factor close to 100%.

Average return economy prices are usually £600 (€870) compared to a similar long journey and competitive route such as LHR-LAX which is usually not more than £300 (€435).

The A380 is the right move for SAA.

regi · Post by **regi** » 06 Mar 2006, 10:46

This decision will give SAA a great advantage over BA, LH, Virgin, Swiss, AF and others who flie to SA. It also confirms that SA is the place to be for the next decade.
I like to business with SA. Reliable, good quality goods and european minded.

Andries · Post by **Andries** » 06 Mar 2006, 12:46

regi wrote:This decision will give SAA a great advantage over BA, LH, Virgin, Swiss, AF and others who flie to SA. It also confirms that SA is the place to be for the next decade.
I like to business with SA. Reliable, good quality goods and european minded.

I agree that it is the right move for them. But I don't think they will have a huge advantage over LH and AF, since they will operate the A380 too (unless they don't operate its to JNB or CPT).

Greetz,

Andries

regi · Post by **regi** » 06 Mar 2006, 14:45

Right Andries, the main player on SA is BA. And they will feel it.
Another one is Emirates. People who took ER complained about long transit hours at Dubai. The A380 of SA will make a difference at LHR, that is sure.
What I meant with the other companies is that regional travellers - such as we Belgians - who have the choice between KLM, LH, AF , Virgin, will be attracted by the lower price on A380 airplanes. (fingers crossed!)
I doubt a bit that the others will use the A380 on the SA route.
Asia is looming, you know.

Dim · Post by **Dim** » 06 Mar 2006, 19:54

can a A380 really replace the 2 747s on the route? if it cannot, then what are they going to do with the extra passengers? fly another plane? doesn't that defeat the purpose of the A380?

i'm not so sure any of this makes sense. if i were an airline, i'd rather run two flights than one. or 3 flights (2 747, 1 777) rather than be forced with a half-empty A380.

i'd also like to canvas multiple departure times to snag the business traveller.

etc.

i mean, it's all not just a matter of consolidating passengers into larger aircraft. after all, we could probably run 3 A380s between New York and Chicago instead of tens of smaller jets. but the public wants quick boarding time and also wants the convenience of mutliple times.

and the airlines need the ability to adjust their capacity with season and over time.

big monster airplanes just lock you into situations that might not be optimal.

HorsePower · Post by **HorsePower** » 07 Mar 2006, 01:13

Dim wrote:can a A380 really replace the 2 747s on the route? if it cannot, then what are they going to do with the extra passengers? fly another plane? doesn't that defeat the purpose of the A380?

The A380-800 provides around 30% more extra seats vs the B747-400. So no, the purpose isn't to replace 2 B747-400s with 1 A380-800 but to allow market grow.

regi · Post by **regi** » 07 Mar 2006, 10:12

Yes Dim, that does sound all very reasonable and nice. But reality is sometimes a bit different. We see in Japan that they use B747 as commuter planes. A similar action between Chicago and New York is not that unreasonable. Yes, we do all want to board quickly. But in the long run we purchase tickets from BA were we have to board + 1 hour for a flight LHR-JNB on a B747.
And about business travellers: an unexpected large part of the Ryanair travellers are business travellers. Flying for business purposes doesn't mean that it may cost a lot of money. I know an example of a company director who must fly in economy - even long haul. But his service engineers fly in business because of flexible returns.
The A380 of SAA on the JNB-LHR route will be full. The lower price will be a major advantage combined with the non stop flight.