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| Time：
2006-11-01 |
| Various Airbus tidbits |
Yesterday, during a Jacques Chirac visit to China, Airbus got an order
for 150 A320 class aircraft, as well as a commitment by Airbus to build
an assembly plant in China for narrowbody aircraft. Heard that the deal
also includes *options* for 30 of the A350 V3.0 aircraft. (I assume that
until Airbus actually launches that aircraft with real promised specs,
all it can expected at options from new customers. (exsiting customers
may be given deals they cannot refuse).
Also, Etihad airways is innaugurating Abu Dhabi-NYC route using an
A340-500. Some interesting data provided:
A340-500
240 pax ( 12 first, 28 business, 200 coach).
15 tonnes of cargo for that route.
JFK-HKG is 7014nm
JFK-AUH is 5967nm
Obviously, the HKG-JFK flight may not always use the most direct route
due to winds etc. But if SG is truly limited at 180 pax, it means that
the extra 1100nm to get to HKG is what is really killing the aircraft
because on a 1100nm shorter route, Etihad seems to be able to load 80
more pax and still carry cargo.
This is one of the rare times when an airline provides performance data
that gives an insight into real performance capabilities of an aircraft.
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