The MonsterBus looms larger than ever. Some 10 months after French territorial carrier Air Austral pencilled an order for two A380s configured for 840 economy class seats each it has signed the binding purchase contracts.
This story The Party Plane to Paris is on its way published here on January 16 has stood the time test fairly well, but it is clear to industry observers that Air Austral will not be alone for very long.
Why? Because with the rise of commodity pricing of air fares, and real prospects of medium term growth in air travel, airlines will try to clobber each other with the lowest seat/distance costs they can get, and where the demand is high that means A380s.
Economies of scale work the same on bulk people carriers as on bulk grain carriers. So do the realities of finite slots at airports, notwithstanding impending efficiencies in air traffic control and the ability to route flights along less circuitous corridors.
Enter the likes of Jetstar, easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz, AirAsia and Tiger. Ignore the rolled eyeballs from airline managements asked how soon they will have 750+ seat A380s on the kangaroo route, or across the North Atlantic. They will have them as soon as they need to be up with the price and volume leaders, or disappear.
The fundamentals of air travel demand have changed. It is a means to an end, not a form of pampered imprisonment.
Of course this means Air Austral’s ambitions for Australia may be somewhat compromised by a Jetstar A380 to Charles de Gaulle, or, mais non, Beavais, the Paris airport that’s nearly in Belgium. Let’s be true to the model, what’s a 75-100 minute bus trip to Porte Maillot after 22 hours of hell anyhow?
Whimsy. Paris commuter falls asleep on metro awakes in the other St Denis
But Air Austral doesn’t need Australia to succeed. Its driver is the awesome torrent of travel that flows between Paris and the far flung overseas departments of the republic, like La Reunion, or the mandated collegiate government of New Caledonia. Refuelling at Sydney between Nouméa and St Denis is just a convenient opportunity to siphon the direct routes to Europe for the adventurous, or gain a slice of the Australia-greater Africa market, for which the awesome volcanic island in the South Indian Ocean is rather well positioned as a future hub.
Tip. Choose lodgings on same side of volcano as airport
One Comment
I’m surprised that the airlines that ordered the A380 such as SQ and QF decided to fit-out them as Flying Titanics, rather than use higher density passenger accomodation arrangements. This prime-mover has the makings of a very serious people (and freight) carrier, which the increasingly commoditised (as Ben pointed out) air-transport market is heading toward. Along with the Kangaroo or North Atlantic trade-routes, on a Silk Road or East Asian trade-route the higher density A380 could be a flying cash register. But it could mean off-loading the personal mini-bars in business-class.