Make Way for the Superjumbo

On the afternoon of March 19th, 2007, a historic event will occur at JFK International Airport; the Airbus A380 Superjumbo is set to touchdown on it's first flight here to the United States since being unveiled several years ago. The significance of the event is that the Airbus 380 has been in serious competition with the Boeing Dreamliner. Both are so-called superjumbos in that they have the capacity to carry nearly 500 passengers in their current configurations. As you can see from the illustration, the A380 by Airbus will have a double decker configuration that will allow for not only more passengers but more ammenities as well. Plans include possible inclusion of a mini casino, a bar, a beauty salon and much more. With an anticipated range of nearly 8,000 miles, there will be the need for such ammenities because anyone who has travelled on a flight for eight hours at a stretch will tell you that it's no picnic.

I have been fortunate enough to have taken international flights since before my first birthday and in that time, I have seen the state of air travel improve but there are somethings that just never seem to change. When you're younger, the size of the jet can seem enormous. Everything seems on a larger scale and when you're a fussy eater, even the food servings can seem like a lot. As you grow older you come to realize that the seats seem to be shrinking and the actual room that you get is quite cramped and being stuck in these seats for hours on end can be a clausterphobes worst nightmare. On my most recent trip back from India, I was relegated to one of the center seats during the first leg of my journey. From Bombay to London I was stuck in the center seat with limited leg room and even more limited elbow room.

Trying to eat in that situation with your arms locked at your side (I try to be as courteous to my seat neighbor as I hope they would be to me) is a tricky undertaking in a bumpy plane. It's harder still when the person sitting next to you is overflowing into your seat as well. Or, the person seated in front of you decides that it's time for a nap and will recline his seat into your lap. You attempt to placate yourself by telling yourself that you're already one minute closer to where you want to be and soon enough you'll be out of this situation and into another. With the advent of the superjumbos, I am hopeful that there will be more room to at least move or stretch your feet. It's a good thing I suppose that the plane has a greater range and the capacity for more passengers, but the question is, if you can't see an improvement in comfort, what does it matter whether you can fly non-stop from your home to anywhere in the world?

Already non-stop flights from the States to countries in Europe and Asia are starting up. Utilizing some of the latest generation aircraft, many of the leading airlines are working to close the gap between countries to next to nothing. In a few years it's more than likely that all destinations in the world will become one-flight destinations; meaning you board the flight once, and you reach the city you want to go. The era of transit passengers may soon end but not quite yet. But as I stated earlier, with this greater range comes the greater need for something to do while you're up in the air. Passengers fortunate enough to find themselves in Business or First Class often have a great variety of entertainment, food and beverage to enjoy before going to sleep in their large reclining chair beds. It's like having a comfy recliner all for yourself.

For the rest of us, although there are not often numerous channels on the mini-screens in front of us, you can't remain seated for up to sixteen hours until you get to your destination. Not only can you develop deep vein thrombosis or blood clots, but you could very well go insane too. Airline travel is no longer the glamorous adventure it once was. For those of us in the rear sections of the plane, it can sometimes be equated to being a FedEx package. We're tagged, bagged, and placed on the appropriate carrier bound for our destination. The superjumbo era will mean many things for the industry, but it will also mean that if these new ammenities are meant for only those in the upper class sections of the plane, you're going to have many more disgruntled passengers sitting in back and although they will sit quietly with the guy in front of them reclining into their lap, there's only so much more they can take.