AIRLINES

In September/October 1991 Airbus Industie visited the world’s 10 most important airlines for the UHCA project.

The two primary objectives of the survey were:

–  To establish the nature of the requirement for an aircraft with
substantially higher capacity than the 747-400, available for 
    first delivery early in the next century. 

–  To establish the overall characteristics of such an aircraft 
    and thereby define some preliminary design targets. 
    The airlines were :

  • All Nippon Airways    ANA
  • Japan Airlines     JAL
  • Japan Air System    JAS
  • Cathay Pacific     CPA
  • Singapore Airlines SIA
  • Korean Air         KAL
  • Qantas             QFA
  • United Airlines    UAL
  • Northwest Airlines NWA
  • Lufthansa          DLH

To illustrate the representative nature of the sample, these ten airlines account for 35% of the demand for aircraft in the 600 seat categorie and 77% in the 800 seat categorie, as defined in the Global Market Forecast 1990-2009.

The questions of the above visits were about establishing the requirement, defining the aircraft, operating cost considerations and technology level.

Airlines overview

Establishing the requirement

Defining the aircraft

Operating cost considerations

Technology

An UHCA was born