Join Date: May 2002
Location: Pittsburgh
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Posts: 31,654
Cost to operate.
Two modern 280 seat twin-engine flights are cheaper than a single 560 seat quad-engine flight.
It's also restricted to major airports that have the capacity (runway/taxiway width, gate height, etc.) to manage such a large aircraft. Smaller long-range twins give flexibility to connect more and more long-range smaller airports. A 380 couldn't fly Hartford-Dublin (Aer Lingus), Oakland-Stockholm (Norwegian), etc.