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If I were the British Airways CEO, I would be making the same move BA has announced it
is making in Las Vegas - partially for today, but more strongly for tomorrow.
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By Robert L. Candiotti May 24, 2009
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| If Ivanpah Valley Airport is approved and constructed, Airbus A380 aircraft will surely be there. |
British Airways
has announced, beginning October 25, 2009, it will commence daily service between Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport
and London Heathrow Airport. The
service will be with Boeing 777 aircraft configured with 274 mixed class seats.
However, in the same way that British Airways is probably assessing Las Vegas right now, I would enter the trans-Atlantic
Heathrow to McCarran market cautiously for today, but more strongly with the possibilities for tomorrow. To me,
the potential for future long-haul commercial aviation into Las Vegas is exciting to ponder.
The double-decker, 500-plus passenger, superjumbo wide-body jet known as the
Airbus A380 began commercial service in October, 2007, and is now flying between several highly significant global airports.
The main airlines that already use the A380 aircraft are Emirates, Qantas and Singapore Airlines.
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| An Emirates Airbus A380 aircraft departs London Heathrow Airport. |
Notably, all three of
these long-haul airlines already fly into London Heathrow Airport. Emirates flies from Dubai to Heathrow. Qantas travels
between Sydney and London Heathrow. Singapore Airlines goes between Singapore and Heathrow. London Heathrow definitely is
established as one of the world's main airports for the Airbus A380. And British Airways, with Heathrow as its
home airport, will join the A380 club: British Airways has placed firm orders for 12 A380 superjumbos with Airbus. British
Airways will receive the new A380 airplanes beginning in 2012.
London Heathrow pier
6 at Terminal 3 was specially designed for the Airbus A380. However, Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport is not
able to handle the huge aircraft. For various reasons, McCarran cannot adjust to being able to service the A380. Significantly, Ivanpah Valley Airport, forecast to be constructed 30 miles
south of Las Vegas, will be designed to accept the A380. In fact, there would be no purpose to have the new, supplemental
airport near the border of Nevada and California if it could not service the A380. So, as I see it, British Airways is wisely positioning itself now to be ready to fly between Heathrow
and Ivanpah when the new international airport in Southern Nevada opens in 2018.
Impressively, though it has only been flying its passengers on the new Airbus airplanes since October 25, 2007, Singapore
Airlines has already carried more than a million passengers on its A380s. As of this date, there are six A380s in SIA's
fleet, flying daily between Singapore and Sydney, Singapore and Tokyo, and twice daily between Singapore and London. Singapore
Airlines is proving the A380 markets are strong. The Airbus
A380 aircraft can fly at 0.89 Mach speed for 8,000 nautical miles non-stop. There are now 17 airline customers that have committed
to 200 firm orders for the A380s. Airbus estimates that over the next 20 years there will be demand for between 1,283 and
1,771 VLA (very large aircraft) that seat more than 400 passengers. Over time, the Airbus A380 will be flying all over the
world. Logically, many airline companies will want to fly A380s
to Las Vegas. The totally new Ivanpah Valley Airport - currently undergoing the formal Environmental Impact Statement process
that is scheduled to conclude at the end of 2010 - is Las Vegas area's only hope for accommodation of the Airbus A380 superjumbo
aircraft.
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| Emirates, as well as British Airways, could be an airline to want Ivanpah Airport as a destination. |
If Ivanpah is presently
scheduled to open in 2018, and British Airways will only start to receive A380 deliveries in 2012, the gap between introduction
of the A380 into B.A.'s fleet and the availability of Ivanpah Valley Airport is not that great. In a May 17, 2009, article in the Las
Vegas Review-Journal - "British Airways bets on Vegas" by Benjamin Spillman - British Airways spokesman John
Lampl says his company has identified 35 major cities, including Rome, Prague, Stockholm, and Paris, that will conveniently
bring Las Vegas-bound passengers to Heathrow with less than two hours connecting time.
This brings to mind once again the words of Robert E. Lang of Brookings Institution spoken last October at the University
of Nevada, Las Vegas: "Las Vegas is a world city due to connectivity to other cities."
Of course, British Airways is concerned with immediate success and substantial load
factors between London and Las Vegas on the Boeing 777 aircraft that the company will utilize. But the possibilities of A380 service between Heathrow and the futuristic Ivanpah Valley Airport have
to be on the minds of top British Airways decision makers. Already, three
airports in Canada - Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal - have been modified to accommodate the double-decker configuration and
wider wingspan of the A380. I do not know what the traffic rights of British Airways are, but it seems to me there would also
be the possibility of B.A. flying not only from Heathrow to Ivanpah, but also from London to Canada, then Canada
to Ivanpah, with A380 aircraft.
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