Big Plane vs Little Plane (The Economics of Long-Haul Flights)
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended in threads on the 747 and A380 for explaining why big planes were phased out.
What it is
Wendover Productions explains why Boeing's efficient 787 beat Airbus's giant A380, contrasting hub-and-spoke with point-to-point routes. It covers the economics of long-haul flights.
Recommended by 8 HN commenters across 5 different months, 2017 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec crikli · 2018-01 · on “A personal ode to the Boeing 747”
I was rolling my eyes at the subtitle. The article devolved from there. Some great (sometimes indirect) information on why the 747 and to a lesser extent the A380 are being phased out, from my new favorite YouTube channel, Wendover Productions: The Economics of Long-Haul Flights: [this video] ETOPS: Explained [LINK] Politics of Aviation / 5 Freedoms of Aviation: [LINK]
Strong rec mthomasb · 2018-01 · on “Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production”
This is a great video on the economics of the hub and spoke vs. direct model embodied by the A380 vs 787: [this video] That channel also has alot of very interesting content on the economics of air travel (e.g., seating classes, how tickets are priced, etc).
Recommends afarrell · 2017-04 · on “Ask HN: How do you unwind at the end of a day?”
Ooooh, these are nice. Here are mine: Extra History: stories of historical incidents — [LINK] Real Engineering: mostly materials science — [LINK] - Wendover Productions — mostly transportation - [this video] Tom Scott: a bit of everything — [LINK] - Jay foreman: Urban planning and maps — [LINK] The Engineer Guy: Manufacturing — [LINK] Practical Engineering: Mostly Civil Engineering — [LINK] 3Blue1Brown: Math, visualized to me more intuitive — [LINK]
Recommends nighthawk454 · 2017-10 · on “As the 747 Begins Its Final Approach, a Pilot Takes a Flight Down Memory Lane”
Wendover Productions has an interesting video which touches on this, and the need for a new middle-tier plane. [this video]
Recommends jasode · 2018-01 · on “As of today, no US passenger airlines operate the Boeing 747”
>, what has taken over in the big jumbo market? The "big jumbo market" itself has shrunk in demand and was made less relevant by the newer generation of long-range fuel-efficient (but smaller) planes like Boeing 737Max/777/787 and Airbus A330. Airbus originally projected sales of 1200 A380s in 2005 but only sold ~300 so far. The "missing" 900 sales happened because many airlines rejected A380s designed for hub-&-spoke in favor of smaller planes designed for point-to-point. The youtube channel Wendover has lots of educational videos about transportation and he has a 10 minute video about the different economics of Airbus A380 vs Boeing 787: [this video]
Recommends peterjlee · 2018-01 · on “Airbus A380, Once the Future of Aviation, May Cease Production”
Here's a relevant video from Wendover productions explaining why Boeing 787 is doing better than A380. [this video]
Recommends michaelt · 2019-02 · on “A380 cancellations by Qantas raise new questions about the superjumbo's future”
You might enjoy watching [1]. TLDR: There's a ~20 year lead time on a radical new plane design. The A380 is designed for an airline industry dominated by 'hub-and-spoke' airlines (where a large plane can make efficient use of expensive landing slots at busy airports), while the 787 Dreamliner is designed for an airline industry dominated by 'point-to-point' airlines (where a small plane can avoid the busy airport and expensive landing slot by serving smaller airports). 20 years after they were both conceived of, it's looking like the hub-and-spoke model is the future. Oh, there's still some demand for such a plane, and some routes are busy enough to benefit from it. But if there isn't enough
Recommends rdhatt · 2023-02 · on “Easter egg in flight path of last 747 delivery flight”
Wendover Productions has a great video on this topic: Big Plane vs Little Plane (The Economics of Long-Haul Flights) [this video]