Aircraft manufacturers and airline companies are looking at new approaches in design aimed at building the numbers of customers and expanding company profits.
One suggestion is a passenger aircraft large enough to carry 600 to 800 people.That would dwarf the bump-nosed Boeing 747s that are now in the larger range of airliners. Instead of the $150 million Air Canada would pay for a 747, the new plane would cost $300 million.
I think they’ll probably reconsider. Can you imagine how long you’d have to wait for your luggage as the 560th passenger on an 800-passenger plane? On intercontinental flights you encounter customs agents who want to know what you have in your suitcase. Even if they check one bag in every 50 that’s 16 interruptions in the flow. If customs people get too lackadaisical we get a situation as in 1952 when foot and mouth disease walked into Canada on a pair of farm worker’s shoes. I also recall one time in Ottawa when all the alarms went off because an American passenger was packing a pistol.
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There’s something to be said for large aircraft. They don’t hiccup every time there’s a downdraft, they have eight lineups for toilets rather than two and you get to stand and shuffle longer when waiting on four aisles of people to exit.These advantages aside, only a few big international airports could accommodate an 800-passenger plane, so why not take a smaller carrier and save yourself a further short hop?
The gourmet hard candies and cheese and lettuce buns they hand out are the same no matter what size of aircraft.
