Now its the passengers’ turn to judge the A380

Will they stampede to buy tickets or stay away in droves? That is the billion dollar question.

Throughout history just a handful of aircraft can be termed game-changers, and it’s easy to see why.

The first and certainly the greatest was the Douglas DC-2 and DC-3. They revolutionised travel in the 1930s with a raft of new technologies and creature comforts. They were also the first aircraft that could make a profit by just hauling passengers – freeing airlines from mail contracts. By 1939 95 per cent of the world’s air travel was on these aircraft.

The next game-changer was pressurisation – not to mention speed and economics – embodied in the Lockheed Constellation and Douglas DC-6. Boeing’s “giant” 377 Stratocruiser was simply not in the game with just 55 sold even though it offered a glamorous downstairs lounge.

Vickers then led the charge with the turbine revolution and Australians witnessed first hand the effect with Trans-Australian Airlines’s Viscounts wiping the floor of Australian National Airlines DC-6Bs, which largely led to the demise of the latter.

But the greatest gamechanger was the pure jet 707 and DC-8, followed by the widebody 747 just over a decade later. Passengers certainly stampeded to firstly jet transports and then the jumbo era.

And it is to that jumbo era phenomenon that Airbus has hitched its fortunes with the impressive double-deck A380.

But while A380 sales are credible, around the 200 mark, that is nothing compared to the phenomenal sales success of the 787 and more latterly the A350 XWB.

Well away from the marketing hype the reality is that for most airlines the 747 is and still is simply too big. Even Qantas, the second biggest A380 customer, has been forced to withdraw from a number of markets because it doesn’t have a 300-seater like the 777.

For many others the key reason they ordered the 747- 400 was its range. Until the early-mid 1990s it was the only aircraft capable of such routes as Singapore-London non-stop, and then only sometimes with passengers and cargo offloaded.

On those trunk routes into congested airports where the A380 really does make sense, its amenities and size comes into it own. For example, Emirates’s business class bar in its A380 is looking strong with a reported 30-40 passengers frequenting the bar at any one time.

Sure these premium features have failed before. American Airlines’s piano bars on its DC‑10s and 747s gave way to more economy seats, as did Qantas’s ‘Captain Cook lounge’ on the top deck of its early 747s.

But that was in the early 1970s when flights were of about eight hours duration. Today the A380’s turf is 15 hour flights where stretching ones legs in the bar before or after an eight hour sleep in a flat bed has far more appeal or necessity.

Another A380 attraction is how quiet the cabin is compared to existing aircraft, but with new noise cancelling headsets the norm in premium classes, that advantage can be muted.

There had also been considerable publicity that the A380 rode turbulence extremely well.

Indeed, this writer’s flight on Singapore Airlines’s first flight from Singapore to Sydney and Emirates’s first commercial service from Dubai to New York were silky smooth.

But on the Qantas delivery flight it was extremely rough two hours out from Toulouse – in fact as rough as this writer has experienced. Several journalists said they were unsettled and one said she was quite scared.

However, for all its talents Airbus can’t change the weather! What it can influence is the A380 marketing message.

For years most passengers have been subjected to marketing hype surrounding the A380, and so if they go looking for shops, gymnasiums and office suites, the reality of the A380 interiors revealed thus far will inevitably disappoint. But that really is a shame for there is absolutely no doubt the A380 is a significant step forward. Its operating economics, on the right routes, are compelling, and the passenger interiors revealed by Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qantas thus far take the art of the inflight ‘product’ to a new level.