Mark down this day when finally the Airbus A380 was delivered to an airline.
In about a week Singapore Airlines will become first in the world to press A380 into commercial service with flights between Singapore and Sydney.
     A380 becomes at last “Queen of the Skies,” replacing B747 that has held that title since 1969.
     Today in Toulouse, France an hour-and-a-half handover ceremony with all the glitter and bling signaled the end (or new beginning) to a seven-year $15.5 billion effort by European airplane builders to create the biggest passenger jet in the world.
     As counterpoint to one celebration as A380 takes commercial wing, Boeing may be at the gates of its own personal hell, announcing last week what everybody had been whispering for months, that the B787, before anything else, will deliver the biggest, new airplane delivery delay in Boeing history.
     Amidst charges by some former senior Boeing engineers that B787 may be unsafe at any speed of delivery because of its composite design, Boeing for its part so far has treated the B787 delivery delay news as little more than a hiccup.
The carriers that have made B787 the most successful new airplane launch ever, with more than 700 hundred sold are reaching for their calculators.
New Reality
     Maybe that muted reaction to B787 delivery delays is part of a new reality.
     A380 has conditioned carriers for delivery woes.
     Among other firsts, A380 legacy includes some portion of the practice and procedure an airline employs when an airplane builder screws up a delivery schedule royally.
     A380 (and everybody else) suffered as poor wiring slowed the airplane down for two years and threw both the French and Germans at each other’s throats (again) over governance and additional issues, and cost European working stiffs at least 10,000 job cuts.
     But now for a few days at least, these are happy hours once more as aviation celebrates A380.
     SATS, the ground handling company in Singapore has put up some interesting comparisons to what it faces with handling A380 in service, as compared to the B747 that will eventually be replaced.
     SIA A380 (for now) features 471 seats as compared to a B747-400 with 375 seats.
     That breaks down to A380—12 Suites on main deck (B747-400—12 First Class on main deck). A380—60 Business Class seats on upper deck (B747-400—50 Business Class seats on both decks). A380 features 399 Economy Class seats on both decks while B747-400 typically has 313 Economy Class seats on its main cabin.
     SATS says A380 operations equipment is a big difference too, including introduction of Direct Upper Deck Catering (DUDC) trucks or hi-lifts.
     Servicing the upper deck, SATs says, will be a complex two-man operation requiring two marshals instead of
one to direct maneuvering of the truck platform to upper deck, versus a typical one-man operation with
standard catering truck for the B747.
     In service across typical routes SATS says A380 meal service versus B747 grub will be the same at two.
     However A380 will need more people all up and down the line to get the job done.
     To get all servicing and other ramp activity procedures straight, SATS developed a life-size mock-up of a typical A380 wing and fuselage area and put staff into training for joint ramp safety coordination exercises of aircraft interior cleaning, apron and catering.
     As example, on the ground upon arrival there are 25% more seats to clean and dress on A380 than the B747-400, not to mention more toilets and galleys to be massaged.
     SATS said, ready for clean up will be 38 to 42 people scouring and tweaking A380’s upholstered stadium interior, as compared to typically 26 staff to do the same job aboard a B747-400.
Geoffrey