Could The Ground Support Equipment Be Redesigned To Make It Profitable?

Airports to ensure jet bridges are safe, but at Chicago Midway International Airport, aviation attorney Patrick Murphy is blaming a consortium of airlines responsible for the jet bridge where his client tripped and fell over a rusted deformed hump in 2014, breaking her arm.

A narrow-body aircraft or single-aisle aircraft is an airliner arranged along a single aisle permitting up to 6-abreast seating in a cabin below 4 metres (13 ft) of width. In contrast, a wide-body aircraft is a larger airliner usually configured with multiple aisles and a fuselage diameter of more than 5 metres (16 ft) allowing at least seven-abreast seating and often more travel classes.

The ground support equipment market is projected to grow from USD 7.5 billion in 2019 to USD 9.7 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 4.45% from 2019 to 2025

Based on type, the mobile GSE segment of the ground support equipment market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Based on power source, the non-electric segment is expected to lead the ground support equipment market from 2019 to 2025.

Based on application, the commercial segment of the ground support equipment market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2019 to 2025.

The Middle East ground support equipment market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2019 to 2025.

What are the problems with the A380?

Let’s begin by looking at the key issues airlines had with the A380 and why they made moves to replace or cancel their orders.

Capacity is too large. Whilst it is undoubtedly impressive that the A380 can carry 525 passengers in a standard three-class configuration (and over 800 in an all-economy variant), more passengers means more seats to fill in order for the aircraft to be profitable. With so much capacity on each aircraft, there was not much room left for other aircraft from the same airline to operate on the route. This means less frequency (you can see us debate the topic here) and less passenger flexibility.

 Lack of routes. Touching on the above point, there are only so many routes in the world that can support a super-jumbo aircraft like the A380. Similarly, not many airports are even configured to take the aircraft, as modifications are required to things like taxiways, gates, and runways.

 The A380 is heavy. Coming in at 277 tonnes, the A380 is a massive aircraft that requires four powerful engines to get it off the ground. These engines are fuel guzzling and require a huge amount of expensive jet fuel for each flight.

Lack of second-hand market. Flag carriers like to have new planes. Any plane over 10 years old starts to make them a little nervous, and they want to be able to replace them with a new aircraft when the time comes. The problem is, what to do with the older A380s? Singapore is starting to retire the aircraft (and replace them with A350s) but thus far had trouble finding buyers, with Hi Fly being one of the only airlines to pick one up.