Importuning by Indian carriers seems to have worked. India will have to wait a bit more for the Airbus A-380 to start flying from its airports. No one knows how long.
Reason: It seems the ‘authorities' are worried about what would happen to Indian carriers' loads if Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Lufthansa start bringing their A-380s here.
The same authorities are also worried that Indian airports cannot handle so many passengers from just one plane at one go. A single A-380 can carry over 500 people.
This is almost double of what a plane owned by an Indian carrier can carry. The biggest of these is the Boeing 747 owned by Air India. It can carry 423 passengers. Next comes Kingfisher with its A-321s that can carry up to 199 passengers and Jet Airways with its Boeing 737-900's which can carry up to 160 passengers.
Kingfisher also has A-330 which can seat up to 217 passengers.
Similarly, Jet has the Boeing 777-300 ER that can seat up to 312 passengers and also the A330, which can seat up to 254 passengers. “The Chinese Government is also following a cautious approach in allowing the A-380 to fly there. They have only given provisional permission for the aircraft to fly in China while they study the impact it is having on their own carriers,” a senior Government official said.
Kingfisher Airlines is the only Indian carrier to have ordered the A-380. The first aircraft is expected to enter service around 2016.
The A-380 first came into service first in 2008 with SIA. There are now 45 of them flying globally.