Stretching the A380 and B747

[Dantheman]

First of all, this is my first time here. Glad to have signed up!

Ok, per topic, and for the sake of the future , how much longer do you think these birds are gonna be? In all actuality, if you look at the 737s, 767s, 777s, A340s, they have been stretched over the years plus the range extended.

Hopefully, your answers can give us all a clue as to how the future of air travel will eventually shape up. Bigger jets, pax cap. increased, huge fuel tanks...what are we looking at? More airline savings?

Thanks!

[MauwieAir]

First of all, this is my first time here. Glad to have signed up!

Ok, per topic, and for the sake of the future , how much longer do you think these birds are gonna be

it isn't going to take to long anymore.... the A380-900 will most probably launched in 2006 or so, because we all know Emirates will take a whole bunch of them...


the 747Adv will be the next 747 if there will be a next 747 , it will be slightly strechted (upper and under deck) so it can take about 40/60 more people. If the 747adv will not come, it will mean the end of a long 747 production line in 2006/2007 or so

[CaptainJackSparrow]

It'll be good to see the a380-900, since in my mind the -800 is like the sp version of the a380. I guess it's like airbus said the -900 is the real a380 that they designed everything for, but best to ease people in with the -800.

[assghanistan]

i'm still waiting for the "flying wing"........... it can be the next airbus A400......

[DAL767-400ER]

The A389 will come, but it will be interesting to see which airports could handle that monster (Ok, DXB will ). Most airports have a hard time preparing for the A388, especially taxiway- and turn-wise.

[jwenting]

And they can't get that much longer without getting too long for the aircraft box which is generally accepted as the maximum size for an airliner.
Going larger than that will mean not just weight problems but means the aircraft can no longer park at gates at existing terminals and still have aircraft taxi past it.
And I'd not want an 800+ seater on a remote stand given the massive number of busses and luggage trolleys that would require.

[cx777]

it would be sad to see the 747 go...(if ever that happens)... i hope they get through with the 747Adv...(not that i dont like the A380...)

[vojoboy]

First of all, this is my first time here. Glad to have signed up!

Welcome to the forum!

Ok, per topic, and for the sake of the future , how much longer do you think these birds are gonna be?

They cannot be longer than 80m (they have to fit in the 80m x 80m box in airports).

The A388 has been designed with a stretch in mind (i.e. the wing itself was designed for the A389) so it wont be trivial for Airbus to do it. I dont have the range figures for the A389 but there was talk that it would not be QC2 compliant.

The previous 747X Stretch derivative proposal had a proposed length of 80.55m.

NB:The A346 is still the longest plane in service at 75.3m.

In all actuality, if you look at the 737s, 767s, 777s, A340s, they have been stretched over the years plus the range extended.

The 737NG and A340NG derivatives were not just simple stretches (i.e. 738, 739, A345 and A346). Both programs required a redesign of the wings and new more fuel efficient engines which enabled them to hit their current range figures.

The 777-300ER derivative only had "minor" changes (relative to their base model brethen) however, it required a new engine derivative. Part of the 767-400ER's range performance shortfall (compared to the A332) was because of the lack of flexibility in redesigning the wing (the plane had to fit to existing DC-10 and L-1011 gates).

Hopefully, your answers can give us all a clue as to how the future of air travel will eventually shape up. Bigger jets, pax cap. increased, huge fuel tanks...what are we looking at? More airline savings?

Thanks!

It all depends on the market comes into play. Some markets will opt to have more frequencies of smaller more fuel efficient planes while some will operate reduced frequencies with higher capacity aircraft due to slot restrictions.

[AA 1818]

Here is an example of what it would look like;

http://www.cardatabase.net/modifiedairlinerphotos/search/photo_search.php?id=00004863

[Shadower]

Here is an example of what it would look like;

http://www.cardatabase.net/modifieda...hp?id=00004863

It looks alot better when stretched like this