The Arrival Of The First Air France Airbus 380 At Johannesburg Internnational Airport In South Africa

At  A young age and as an enthusiast of aviation, my early recollections of bewildered amazement was when I first set eyes on a de Havilland Comet jet aircraft getting airborne from what was then Johannesburg’s Jan Smuts International Airport.

It seemed to me at the time, Johannesburg was far removed from a world of progressive aviation-a world from where airliners connected distant continents.

When South Africa became the inaugural long haul destination for the new Comet, I did not realize that my zest for aviation was about to expand beyond the impressions I gained from magazines and news cuttings about giant size aircraft. The odysseys of flight into Africa had progressed beyond my imaginative dreams.

Johannesburg was no longer a colonial outpost rich only in mining opportunity. The evolution and growth in aviation had connected Europe and North Americas with Johannesburg, the hub for future progress and development within Southern Africa.

As the demand for passenger travel in aircraft was increasing, wide-body jumbo jets carrying up to 350 passengers became a reality. The vista around the parking bays of Johannesburgs now OR Tambo Airport was transformed by towering brightly coloured aircraft tails and magnificient fuselages painted in varieties of colour.

It was a little more than a year ago when Johannesburg welcomed the arrival of the first Air France Airbus 380 service to South Africa. The economy of scale was re-written as air travel into the African continent entered new dimensions.

For Air France, the introduction of the A380 on to the South Africa route is an affirmation of the French connection with Africa. Apart from being the first carrier to introduce a regular A380 service into Africa, Johannesburg was the second destination after New York to which Air France decided to commit a daily A380 service from Paris.

Offering 538 seats between nine in First Class, 118 Business/Economy and 389 in the economy section, the A380 replaced two B777-200 aircraft on the daily schedule between South Africa and Paris.

Pierre Henri Gourgeon, CEO of Air France-KLM is quoted as saying:”The savings from flying the A380 on routes where it replaces two planes amounts to 15-million Euros per plane, per year, morethan the airline had anticipated.”

The inclusion of the giant Airbus on to the Johannesburg route will free up one of Air Frances conventional wide-body aircraft to begin an additional Air France service from Cape Town to Paris commencing in November this year.

The enthusiasm of passengers wanting to travel on board the A380 since introduction of the first aircraft in the Air France livery in 2009,means the carrier has carried over 800 000 passengers to date in three of the 12 Airbus A380 aircraft due for delivery to the carrier.

An ICAO report has indicated 92% of all long haul traffic is from 37″mega cities” around the world. These cities are typical business, tourism, and population hubs which are natural destinations for air transport.

These cities have more than 10000 daily long haul passengers and Johannesburg is one of these cities that Airbus has identified as ideal for A380 operations.

During 2010, international passenger traffic at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport exceeded 7, 5 –million.

Enter Lufthansa

The first A380 delivered to Lufthansa was deployed on to its high density Far East routes. After Tokyo and Beijing, Johannesburg was listed by the airline among 20 other Lufthansa destinations as suitable for an A380 long-haul service.

The German carrier became the second international carrier to commit a daily A380 service into Johannesburg and in doing so replaced its Boeing 747-400 nightly service in and out of Frankfurt and Johannesburg.

South Africa’s allegiance with Germany is as a long-standing trading partner .The estimated 2% population of persons living in South Africa being of German decent, consistently yields an 80% passenger load for the airline which reflects as a demand for Business Class and leisure travelers.

With the introduction of the double-deck Airbus in a three class, 530-seat configuration, the carrier had increased its total weekly capacity to its Frankfurt –Johannesburg schedule by an additional 1100 seats, in doing so allowing an increase in capacity without increasing frequencies, and thereby decreasing operating costs.

ICAO figures also show that global air traffic since 1970 has doubled every 15 years. From current figures, air traffic around the world will again double in the next 15 years with an annual average traffic growth of 4, 8% through to 2029.

To bring this statistic into perspective, Airbus expects that growth alone in global air traffic during 2017 to 2018 will equal the entire volume of aviation traffic of 1970.

There are a number of drivers for this: population growth, people in emerging economies starting to fly and the development of low cost carriers making air travel more accessible.

A further prediction by Airbus is that annual international traffic growth to and from South Africa over the next 20 years will be 5,4% ,above the world average of 4,8% .Statistics have shown that South Africa’s  international traffic grew by 17% over the last five years.

Some foreign carriers have capitalized on this growth while ICAO also indicates that local carriers in South Africa have lost out on this opportunity and are not achieving similar benefits from this expansion in traffic.

The sky is the limit as growth in passenger traffic from South Africa filters into the growing congestion of major Northern Hemisphere air spaces.

Germay, France, the Benelux countries and Switzerland handle a staggering six-million flights per year which is equivalent to 55% of all European air traffic.

However, airport infrastructure is not growing at the same pace as traffic. Slots are already in short supply at many of the world’s airports and environmental concerns demand that the impact of air travel must be minimized.

The looming saturation at the worlds major airports, although not significant to Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport, does have bearing for airline planners scheduling long-haul flights from Johannesburg into Britain, Europe and North America.

The current long-haul departures timetable from Johannesburg shows many flights departing in the early evening to arrive at their destination airports such as London Heathrow within a short time frame to restrictions for arriving and departing aircraft.

As forecast, the growth of South African international air travel will outstrip the growth of the rest of the world.

Flights to and from Johannesburg are well supported providing good load factors. During peak travel periods these flights may be fully booked and suitable alternative travel difficult to arrange.

Passenger preferences for overnight long-haul flights from Johannesburg means there is no real benefit in adding frequency when flights arrive at the destination in a narrow time frame.

The A380 is a solution to meet the demand for increased capacity on high density routes. It offers unmatched fuel efficiency, and it carriers more passengers per runway movement, reducing the requirement for additional slots.

If bigger is better, then this all makes a lot of sense, reduced carbon emissions and congestion at busy airports; carrying 50% more passengers reduces the number of aircraft operating at congested airports. This is obviously a win/win situation for airlines, air traffic controllers, and airport operators.

Interesting to consider though, Emirates Airline, the foreign carrier with the most traffic operating in South Africa ,will continue to operate six flights daily out of Dubai to South Africa  using wide-body twin-engine aircraft on the significant less congested routes into South Africa.

To quote the airlines response to a question if the carrier intended to include similar A380 aircraft on the Dubai/South Africa route: “Emirates has other aircraft deployment plans to South Africa in the immediate and longer term future, which are not necessarily centered around the Airbus A380.”

This may speak volumes about the flexibility of operating modern twin-engine wide-body aircraft outside of congested air space in Europe and North America.

About the Author

Anthony Juma is the Editor and Senior Aviation Director at Wings Over Africa Aviation. 
This is an Air Charter Company that specializes on Cheap  Passenger Flights, Cheap  Cargo & Freight  Flights into /Out  Kenya|Uganda|Tanzania|Rwanda|Burundi|Eastern & Central Africa ,DR  Congo,Somalia,South Sudan, Sudan& The African Continent. The website has guided thousands of travelers to achieve their dream holiday. For more information and guidance, visit the site at http:// / www.wingsoverafrica-aviation.com/index.php/our-rates.html

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