By: John Walton / Published: March 22, 2016
Editor’s note: In this three-part series, AirwaysNews covers: the future market forecasts for and service experience with the A380; the constraints on the aircraft; and its evolving and future passenger experience.
The Airbus A380’s passenger experience is both significantly varied and strikingly similar, depending on which cabins within the aircraft are being compared across the dozen airlines flying them. Twelve airlines are currently operating the A380, with between two and four classes of service on board:
- Air France: first, business, premium, economy
- Asiana Airlines: first suites, business, economy
- British Airways: first suites, business, premium, economy
- China Southern Airlines: first suites, business, economy
- Emirates: first suites*, business, economy
- Etihad: Residence, first suites, business, economy
- Korean Air: first, business, economy
- Lufthansa: first, business, premium**, economy
- Malaysia Airlines: first, business, economy
- Qantas: first, business, premium, economy
- Qatar Airways: first, business, economy
- Singapore Airlines: first, business, premium**, economy
- Thai Airways: first, business, economy
* Emirates took delivery of its first two-class A380 without first class.
** Denotes airlines with premium economy refit programmes after entry into service.
Airlines configure their A380 cabins in a striking variety of locations. Across the world’s A380 fleets, there are a number of key differences between each airline’s configuration(s). In descending order of commonality, these are:
- whether first class is on the upper or lower deck
- where and whether premium economy is to be found
- where and whether economy is on the upper deck
- whether business class spreads to the lower deck
The A380 passenger experience runs the gamut from the Residence to a middle seat in economy. Image: John Walton
Most airlines have first class on the main deck The airlines with first class downstairs are Air France, Asiana, British Airways, China Southern, Korean Air, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Thai. Meanwhile, the carriers with first class upstairs are fewer: Etihad, Emirates, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways. The primary difference from the first class perspective that first class seats on the main deck can be wider, which makes suites an easier proposition. That hasn’t stopped Emirates from installing suites upstairs, of course, and there are several airlines that offer first class seats without doors downstairs.
Lufthansa’s first class sits in the upper deck. Image: Lufthansa
The benefits of having first class upstairs include an exclusivity for the upper deck, enabling ground service offerings like Emirates’ purpose-built A380 concourse in Dubai, which boards first and business class through the upstairs door. Of course, this also means that when Emirates comes to put its two-class A380 into service it has to revise the ground infrastructure. Late-entrant premium economy cabins are on the main deck Of the five airlines currently offering premium economy on the A380, it is either found behind business class on the upper deck in a 2-3-2 configuration or in front of economy on the main deck in a 2-4-2 layout. Air France, British Airways and Qantas have their premium economy seats in the rear half of the upper deck, sandwiched between business and economy. With the side bins and quiet upstairs cabin, these are some of the best premium economy seats in the sky. Notably, these airlines were early entrants in the premium economy race.
SQ’s premium economy seats are arranged on the main deck. Image: Singapore Airlines
Later entrants Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines feature premium economy on the main deck, in the first zone for Lufthansa (largely because the rear of the upper deck is varied for seasonal) and the second for Singapore Airlines (for commonality given that the airline operates different upper deck layouts for routes with high and low business class demand). It wouldn’t be surprising to see more airlines taking a premium economy cabin, especially as the first generation of older business class seats are scheduled for replacement. Airlines previously operating a less competitive business cabin (like Korean Air or Malaysia Airlines) or those wanting to focus on more upmarket customers may find premium economy particularly attractive.
Upper deck economy is more common than you might think It may be surprising that the vast majority of airlines operate at least one A380 configuration with an upper deck economy cabin. Air France, British Airways, China Southern, Emirates*, Lufthansa*, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines* and Thai all have upstairs economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration, rather like an Airbus A330 but with side bins for the window seat passengers. (Airlines marked * have multiple configurations at least one of which includes upper deck economy.)
Lufthansa offers upstairs premium economy on its A380. Image: John Walton
Etihad and Korean Air are the only airlines not to offer economy upstairs, and it would seem unlikely that either carrier will do so. Etihad has made much of its all-premium upper deck, and Korean Air has a bar at the back of the upper deck and currently offers older business class seats without direct aisle access, which are more dense than their newer B/E Aerospace Apex seats. It would be a surprise if any refit of Korean’s upper deck were to drop both the bar and a significant proportion of the business class seats.
Business class is more upstairs, less downstairs So far, only British Airways has chosen to situate business class on the A380’s wide main deck. The airline prefers, it seems, to split the cabins between upper and lower decks for the mix of capacity and premium feel — and, of course, because it’s important to get the right mix of “honeymoon” pairs of seats in the centre section of its Club World cabin on the main deck and the solo middle seats upstairs. Notably, few airlines take advantage of the extra cabin width of the upper deck compared with the A330 to remove the side bins in order to enable a more efficient use of space for outward-facing herringbone seats.
Qatar Airways is an exception in making the most of the upper deck’s width in business. Image: John Walton
The #PaxEx future is as bright as the aircraft’s is opaque Singapore Airlines, the first A380 operator, will also be the first to conduct a major internal update when its second tranche of superjumbos arrive in 2017. New suites and a new business class are expected for these aircraft. Emirates, the second airline to operate the A380, has a remarkable 39% of all A380s currently in service, and has itself evolved the configuration of its aircraft to a total of three variants: the new two-class version, one three-class type with crew rest, and one three-class type without crew rest. The airline has also mooted plans to introduce a new suite product for future deliveries, though it has not yet discussed a timescale.
Emirates is working on a new first class product for its A380 fleet. Image: John Walton
Yet the future success of the A380, and any potential re-engined A380neo or stretched A380-900 version, is unclear. Key bellwethers of whether there’s space for the A380 as a mainstay of the future of aviation include bilateral agreements and airport capacity evolving into a world where more A380s make more sense; the aviation market supporting the incease in capacity the A380 allows; and the passenger experience evolving alongside the new generation of twinjets. If enough of those conditions are met, the A380’s future could be as big as the superjumbo itself feels.
John Walton, an international journalist, specializes in cabin interiors, seating, connectivity, and premium class service. A keen analyst of how developing tools can be applied to aviation news, John is at the forefront of social media in the aviation sector, When not at the keyboard, John lives out of a suitcase, and adds languages to his “I speak this enough to get by while traveling” collection. John welcomes email from readers and industry insiders to john@walton.travel, and discussion on Twitter: he’s @thatjohn.
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Contact the editor at roberto.leiro@airwaysnews.com
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