The cleaner, quieter, and greener aircraft
IT'S THE biggest thing in the sky. Nearly 500 seats and it burns up to 20 percent less fuel per seat than today's next largest aircraft. That's A380 for you and Emirates is flying not one but 58 of them.
While pollution from aircraft is currently less than 3 percent of the total environmental pollution, increased air travel is likely to increase this share signi.cantly in the future. As a result, airline industry, aircraft manufacturers, airports and airlines are working to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced by new aircraft over the next 15 years by half.
Now with Emirates operating 58 of the Airbus A380 an aircraft dubbed as the most environmentally advanced commercial aircraft in the sky, the airline industry can make a claim of doing their bit to decrease pollution.
According to of.cials at Emirates, they have selected the A380 and underpinned Airbus' decision to proceed with the programme because it was planned to be, and is now proving to be, the most ef.cient aircraft flying today. It carries more passengers and yet burns less fuel, therefore producing fewer emissions.
Fuel efficient
The A380 is more fuel efficient per passenger kilometre than even a small family car. The aircraft operated by Emirates will offer fuel economy as low as 3.1 litres per 100 passenger kms, better than that of Toyota's acclaimed Prius hybrid passenger vehicle (which uses 4.4 litres per 100 vehicle kms).
Emirates' A380s use the (US) Engine Alliance GP7200 engine, which saves a further 500,000 litres of fuel per aircraft per year than other engine alternative.
Fewer emissions
Low fuel burn means lower Co2 emissions the A380 produces only 75g of C02 per passenger km, almost half of the European emissions target required for cars manufactured in 2008.
The greater fuel efficiency of the GP7200 engines on Emirates' A380 aircraft, translate into further environmental advances.
This includes the lowest fuel economy and emissions of any A380 engine option.
Emirates' A380s, which offer more space per passenger in all classes, will also meet ICAO's gaseous emissions standards by a substantial margin.
Emirates' emissions components such as NOx will be well under the regulated 'cap four' rule.
Lower noise
New-generation engines, combined with an advanced wing and landing gear design, makes the A380 significantly quieter than other aircraft enabling this large aircraft to meet strict local regulations at many airports around the world.
Emirates' fuel emission performance is one of the industry's best and the latest generation of environmentally-advanced aircraft entering its fleet will help it to outstrip its total growth and emissions, providing a positive net environmental outcome.
Largest Customer
With 58 'superjumbos' on firm order, Emirates is the world's largest customer for the Airbus A380 aircraft.
Emirates' orders for the aircraft amount to 30 percent of all orders received by Airbus from 16 customers.
With a combined value of almost $19 billion at list prices, this is a huge investment by Emirates.
Emirates took delivery of its first Airbus A380 'superjumbo' at the planemaker's new Jurgen Thomas A380 Delivery Centre in June.
The aircraft was received by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman & CEO of Emirates Airline and Group, at an offcial handover ceremony attended by Airbus CEO Tom Enders; former Engine Alliance President, Bruce Hughes; Jurgen Thomas, the "founding father" of the A380.
HH Sheikh Ahmed at that ceremony noted that while Emirates may not have been the first airline to receive the new generation aircraft, it was the first to place a firm order for it eight years ago.
In July 2000, Emirates became the first airline to sign a firm commitment and place a deposit for the world's biggest commercial aircraft, initially for seven aircraft, with five further options, collectively worth $1.5 billion. By November 2007, the award winning carrier had placed firm orders for 58 A380s. "We have stood firm on our commitment to the A380," he said. "Our investment in the aircraft, including engines and inflight features, exceeds Euro32 billion, with Euro12 billion spent in Germany alone.
Emirates has embraced the new aircraft more quickly and with a larger order than any other carrier because its rate of expansion is much higher than that of most other airlines.
Emirates is also more restricted by capacity constraints than its rivals.
The result is an A380 order book that will make Emirates the world's largest operator of the superjumbo.
Emirates is growing and adding more environmentally-advanced aircraft to its operations. Its fleet has an average age of just 67 months one of the youngest in the skies.
The Airbus A380, along with aircrafts like Emirates' new Boeing 777 family and its order of 70 Airbus A350-XWBs, allows the airline to operate one of the world's youngest and most efficient fleets.
Competition
The Boeing 747 has been around since 1970, and more than 1,100 have rolled off the production line. They've carried millions of passengers and countless tonnes of cargo to the four corners of the earth. After nearly four decades in service, the Boeing 747 is doing just .ne, and so this new addition in no way means that it is time to write off the 747-800, Boeing's latest model, as obsolete junk. It carries 467 passengers (just 22 fewer than the Emirates A380), and at 250 feet long and 64 feet tall, it's not exactly tiny. It's $20 million to $89 million cheaper and it has been on the skies for a far longer period and hence has gained some trust.
The A380, meanwhile is said to generates less than half the noise of a Boeing 747-400 on take off and comfortably meets EU Stage Three and proposed Stage Four noise level standards. And who can resist flying on this new innovation, the A380, with all its additional features. With the ongoing process of improvements on design, on weight reduction and lesser emissions by the manufacturers, we can hope for more to come from the Airbus in their later versions that might give the Boeing a stiffer competition.
© Qatar Today 2008
