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Qantas warns LA airport on facilities for new super jumbo A380
Steve Creedy | August 06, 2008
QANTAS has warned Los Angeles International Airport it may start switching A380 flights to San Francisco if it is forced to park the giant planes at remote stands and put passengers on buses instead of connecting directly to terminal gates.
The airline issued the warning as it prepared to begin flying its first A380 service between Melbourne and Los Angeles from late October. The big plane is specifically designed for capacity-constrained airports such as Los Angeles, and Qantas is the biggest international carrier at the airport, with 40 flights a week.
While Los Angeles is a popular tourism destination, its airport is less fondly regarded by travellers because of long queues, often unfriendly staff and poor facilities.
Qantas senior executive vice-president for the Americas and Pacific Wally Mariani told Jane's UK that remote facilities would be acceptable to the airline only in cases of unexpected operational problems and not for regularly scheduled flights.
"If in the future LAX is unable to keep up with the need for additional (very large aircraft) gates, we would be forced to relocate our A380 services to San Francisco."
Qantas warns LA airport on facilities for new super jumbo A380
Steve Creedy | August 06, 2008
QANTAS has warned Los Angeles International Airport it may start switching A380 flights to San Francisco if it is forced to park the giant planes at remote stands and put passengers on buses instead of connecting directly to terminal gates.
The airline issued the warning as it prepared to begin flying its first A380 service between Melbourne and Los Angeles from late October. The big plane is specifically designed for capacity-constrained airports such as Los Angeles, and Qantas is the biggest international carrier at the airport, with 40 flights a week.
While Los Angeles is a popular tourism destination, its airport is less fondly regarded by travellers because of long queues, often unfriendly staff and poor facilities.
Qantas senior executive vice-president for the Americas and Pacific Wally Mariani told Jane's UK that remote facilities would be acceptable to the airline only in cases of unexpected operational problems and not for regularly scheduled flights.
"If in the future LAX is unable to keep up with the need for additional (very large aircraft) gates, we would be forced to relocate our A380 services to San Francisco."
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