Airbus A380 minus ‘cruise line staircase’ an option for airlines

Amid slowing sales for superjumbos, Airbus has developed a package of options that include removing the grand staircase on its A380 to boost seat capacity for airlines.

The grand staircase on an Emirates airline Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet. The plane maker now offers the option to replace the sweeping stairwell with a more compact one to boost capacity. Manish Swarup / APShow less

Airbus is set to offer customers of its flagship A380 airliner the option of removing the superjumbo's "cruise liner staircase" – and significantly increase capacity.

The European jet maker’s New Forward Stairs (NFS) option was on Tuesday presented at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg along with other interior changes the airline said is expected to result in the freeing-up more cabin space for around 80 additional passengers. With all the available options chosen, the A380 seat count would move from an industry average 497 to 575 in four classes.

“This new package for our A380 customers is a smart way to meet airline needs while improving the A380 economics with additional revenues and innovating in passenger comfort,” said Kiran Rao, the executive vice president of strategy and marketing at Airbus Commercial Aircraft. “Only the A380 has the economies of scale and development potential to efficiently solve the problem of increasing congestion at large airports while providing the best comfort for passengers. The aircraft can also serve fast-growing markets and airlines regional airports, so we are adapting the aircraft to meet evolving market needs.”

The NFS option alone will increase capacity by 20 passengers across business, premium economy and economy classes, Airbus said.

It involves relocation of the forward stair further down the fuselage, and combining the entrance of the NFS to the upper deck (going up), with the adjacent staircase to the lower-deck crew-rest (going down).

The staircase features in the Emirates airline advert starring the US actress Jennifer Aniston.

A new combined crew-rest compartment sees the existing flight-crew-rest behind the cockpit in the mezzanine area moved down and combined with the cabin crew-rest on the lower deck. This frees space for three extra premium-economy passengers at the front of the main deck.

Thanks to a seating concept developed by Airbus and its seating partners, Airbus said it is able to maintain an 18-inch seat-width while offering airlines an 11-abreast economy class on the main deck in a “3-5-3” configuration. This enables an increase in capacity of 23 seats, the aircraft maker said.

A new aft-galley stair module (AGSM) involves the redesign of the rear stair from a spiral staircase to a straight/square one. On the main-deck, this allows more storage room for galley modules. Overall the AGSM provides space for 14 more passengers plus two extra food trolleys.

The option to remove the sidewall stowages on the upper-deck increases the wall-to-wall cabin width at foot-rest height – which makes space for up to 10 more business class seats/beds when an angled herring-bone arrangement is used, Airbus said.

The A380’s main-deck cross section – significantly wider than any other commercial airliner – is allowing seat manufacturers to optimise their premium-economy layouts to enable 11 more seats in premium-economy than in an eight-abreast layout.

Also at AIX Expo on Tuesday Airbus launched Airbus Interiors Services (AIS). Based in Toulouse, AIS is part of Services by Airbus, and it is now dedicated to supporting airlines with their cabin upgrade development strategies such as, for example, a new central ceiling stowage for A320 family “classic cabin”.

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