The A380 - Just Another Middle Aged Burnt Out, Stressed Out Aviation Geek!!

Being middle aged is somewhat liked standing in a middle of a two-way road on the thin dividing line and hoping that cars going in either direction don't hit you! For a middle aged aviation geek, it’s even worse, it’s like standing in the middle of the runway and watching a plane, in this case an Airbus A380 barreling towards you!

You are so fixated on the plane that you seem to be frozen, unable to run or even move! Time stands still and the only thing you hear is the noise of 4 powerful Engine Alliance GP7200 engines increasing in tempo! And just when you feel that the plane is going to crush you, the noise dies down and the aircraft seems to disappear!

Silence, pin-drop silence - You are standing all alone on a deserted, lonely runway!

That’s how it feels today for all of us aviation geeks! And for those of us who are middle aged, we truly feel our age today!

The dream of an aircraft that promised to change the world with its growing passengers numbers, seems to have come to a premature end with Airbus announcing that production will end by 2021. The end of an era for an aircraft that was a whale with wings, a marvel of man’s ingenuity, innovation & technological prowess, a dream translated from the drawing board that became reality, albeit for a short time!

The media is having a field day today ........................ tugging on our heart - strings, but also forgetting that Airbus maybe better off financially without the A380 program

CNN - End of the superjumbo: Airbus is giving up on the A380

Bloomberg - Killing the Airbus A380 Is an Act of Kindness

The A380 reminds us that age or technology is no guarantee of success in aviation. Aviation is an addictive industry, but is not an easy or forgiving one. With wafer thing margins, airlines without deep pockets have no sentimental space for aircraft like the A380 that may wow, awe and inspire passengers & aviation geeks, but which don’t balance the financial books!

And for Airbus like Bloomberg said "Without the A380, it will have less dead weight to carry"

Airbus may have promised absolute comfort, space to be, peace, love and an aircraft that was supposed to revolutionize the way airlines flew! But the gravity of fuel prices, secondary airports, and the financial bottom lines were way stronger, pulling the A380 into a downwards spiral much quicker than anticipated!

But maybe Airbus has been a victim of their own success, the success of their A350s and of their counterpart across the pond, Boeing with their B787, in hawking smaller but much more financially attractive aircraft to risk-averse airlines!

I think to myself, here I am - Just Another Middle Aged Burnt Out Stressed Out Aviation Geek, with tears in my eyes!

But then I stop and turn back from where I stand on the runway – and see an aircraft that has graced airports and the sky for 50 years now, and aircraft we call the Queen, the Jumbo of the skies – the Boeing 747!

It gives me hope – I may be just another middle aged aviation geek, but thinking of the 747, am not so burnt out or stressed anymore!