A380 reduces or increases flight time?
Mar 15, 2017 | 7:24 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 87
A380 reduces or increases flight time?
Delighted to know that the Emirates A380 aircraft is coming to Brazil at the end of this month. However I see the flying time while looking at online bookings from GRU (Sao Paulo) to DXB with the A380 is 14.30 hrs. An hour more than the Emirates 777-300 that flies the same route. Somehow I had the impression that the A380 would reduce the flying time. Would welcome any input from more experienced travellers. Thank you.
Mar 15, 2017 | 7:45 am
#2
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,791
It wouldn't reduce the flying time, they fly pretty much at the same speed. Block times, which is what you see, are buffered to account for delays, taxi, etc. They may be adding a buffer to account for possible delays in boarding, especially if there is no A380 gate with a jetway for the upper deck.
The cruise speeds of both planes are pretty much identical, in the M0.83 - M0.85 range, however the distance to Brazil is quite far so for fuel efficiency they may be flying a little under the design speed, perhaps M0.81 or M0.82. There could be many reasons, I'm simply speculating.
The cruise speeds of both planes are pretty much identical, in the M0.83 - M0.85 range, however the distance to Brazil is quite far so for fuel efficiency they may be flying a little under the design speed, perhaps M0.81 or M0.82. There could be many reasons, I'm simply speculating.
Mar 15, 2017 | 12:03 pm
#3
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere
Programs: Bottom of the barrel, have to pay for bags.
Posts: 954
A380s require more planning when taxiing to and from the gate because of the wide wingspan - at LAX you can't have more than one wide wingspan aircraft (A380, maybe 77W?) on the first third of the inner taxiways (E and B) at a time, I don't know about GRU but could be true there.
Mar 16, 2017 | 5:46 pm
#5
Ambassador: Emirates
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: UK/AU
Programs: QF P1 + LTG, EK, BAEC, QR, IHG, Accor, LHW
Posts: 1,232
Flying SYD- DXB on an A380 with either Qantas or EK has a time difference of about 30 minutes, with Qantas having the longer designated flight time.
Boarding for an A380 takes considerably longer than a 777 so you may have more time on the ground. Not a problem if you are in J or F ;-)
Boarding for an A380 takes considerably longer than a 777 so you may have more time on the ground. Not a problem if you are in J or F ;-)
Mar 16, 2017 | 5:57 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 87
Thank you all for taking the trouble to reply. I have a better understanding of the matter. Re. Thinksamuel's very valid query about summer/winter time change and if this could be the reason - in mid February 2017 Brazil already set their clocks. Best wishes and cheers!
Mar 16, 2017 | 7:44 pm
#7
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Oz!
Programs: EK, QF, KLM,SQ
Posts: 30
With regards the winter vs summer issue ... if the flight times are being compared for b777 summer vs a380 winter (or vice versa) the winds may have an impact on timings. Many flights have different schedules winter vs summer due the movement and strength of jet-streams with the seasons.