Why Airlines Are Bringing Back Jumbo Jets (Sort Of)

There are more than 200 Airbus A380s flying and there are more than 300 Boeing 747 seconds. Most of them are cargo planes, though. So the jumbo jet is not dead. It's not quite dead yet. I'm Leslie Josephs and I'm joined by Erin Black. We cover aviation at CNBC and this is Now Boarding where we talk about all things travel and aviation. And today we're going to

flying already, so that's exciting for its owner. But they're not being made anymore. They're new planes out there. There's better technology, they're more fuel efficient, and they've kind of fallen out of favor. Well, let's kind of rewind a little bit and kind of talk about why they were made in the first place. You know, the 747 is one of, if not the most iconic plane ever

made. How did this come up and why did Boeing ever make this plane in the first place? They were under a lot of pressure, you know, go back to the 1960s and air travel was really taking off, especially international travel. But there wasn't a plane that could fit lots of passengers that would be cost effective for the airline and cost effective for the passenger. So a

ticket that they could afford. Boeing spent the 60s or the latter half at least developing this aircraft. And now the design that we all know, I think it's probably the most recognizable plane out there with the hump in the front that debuted in 1969. And it's still probably the most famous plane around today. There's also the A380 flying around, but that didn't kind of come into

the picture until much later. Yeah, and both of those companies, like we said, they stopped producing them. The Airbus A380, maybe it was too late, maybe it was too early, but it did not get the timing right. That debuted in 2005, started flying commercially in 2007. So that's a long time after 1969. So Boeing really dominated the market with the 747 and and kind of made

international travel a part of global culture. I love. Learning. When we were doing that story that like one of the original designs for the 747 was actually to do a complete double decker. And if you see like if you go to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, they have the like model of of that double decker 747. And it looks exactly like what the A380 turned

out to be, which is just kind of funny. How long of a run did the 747 have? More than 50 years. I think 50. I guess it's still running. That's probably not the right thing to say. Well, a production run, we could say so. It is more than about 53 years. A debut in 1969 started flying commercially a year later in 1970. This is a plane

that could fit more than 400 passengers. So you could imagine if you're flying from the US to Europe or even longer routes, you know, you're you're making it more affordable. They call it the plane that shrunk the world because it was able to make international travel affordable for so many different people. Also feel like it made flying just like this romantic thing because like when you

look back at all the videos of like the 747 when it first came out, like Pan Am, you know, had all these amazing commercials with the 747 and people hanging out on a plane. And I still think today, when I'm going to go on a flight, that my experience is going to be something like that. And it's not clearly not the same as it was back

in like the 70s. But what were some of the key features that were on the 747 and eventually the A380? Well, it did have that upper deck which we got to see the first 747 at the Flight Museum in Seattle. That does kind of show they have these lounges. There was a lot of socializing going on, especially if you were in the upper class in the

first class area. Dining was very elaborate. Dining, I think in general for a lot of international travel was very elaborate and not kind of what we know now because there's so many people packed into such a small space. But it just it had a lot of luxury. And maybe now we wouldn't think of those things as luxurious. And we kind of want like when people book

a flight, they want a good fare. But, you know, like mirrors on the back. And some of them had one had a piano, at least one had a piano. Like can you imagine like flying with. Like, I mean, I wouldn't be wanting to sing sitting next to that piano during takeoff. Oh, yeah. Please, please store your piano. Please make sure this grand piano is locked into

the floor. Yeah, you could still kind of smell the cigarets. Like when you imagine it, it's just like, Well. When we went into RA 001, there were ashtrays. I mean, this is a whole other episode. Why? There are still ashtrays on planes. But yeah, yeah, it was. It was very retro. It was very, very cool. Just a sign of the times of what it was like

back then. Yeah. And I mean, it was kind of like this golden age of travel thing. I mean, if we were our ages, then we wouldn't be able to take out credit cards. So it was like it was golden, if you like, had a lot of money and like, you know, someone else had to buy your ticket essentially, or you just had a lot of cash

on you. It was another. Era for sure and think that the bar for luxury has kind of gone up and up and up, but in different ways things are more important. Privacy and other things that maybe weren't what people were looking for in the 60s and the 70s where they were just kind of like having a good time and everyone was like getting drunk in a

bar upstairs. So the 747 was around for like three decades before the A380 kind of premiered. What was so different about that when it came out? Well, the A380, the capacity is higher, so figure like a Boeing 747 can fit around 400 people or so. The seven. The A380, which is a pure double decker, like you said, it's like one layer on top of another, can

fit 600. In some cases, Emirates had ordered some planes that I think it was 615 people could fit on it. Like, that's crazy. Like, just think of the boarding, like how all the. People in this building right now. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. But yeah. We'll count them later and see if we could fit them. But there were some plans for even higher density configurations, like

around 800 people, so you could fit a lot of people in them. And then the amenities got better. So Emirates and some of these countries, like state owned flag carriers, they use that as sort of like the advertising for the airline, like they they some of them have lounges. You know, you could drink up there. Emirates has showers on some of them. And I know that's

like an experience. You see like a lot of the bloggers and vloggers say, like, okay, I'm trying out the shower and and just like these crazy things. Just recently leaked into the. Cabin Yeah mean, it's like a good idea. Bad idea. Sit underneath the shower. Pass and it depends where you sit. I mean, you have to remember that like, the majority of the plane is like

still economy seats where you're just kind of like sitting in. And especially if you're in that middle row, it's like, okay, you're sharing your space with like hundreds of other people. But I don't know if you, like, really feel that luxury. But from what I've heard, I've never flown on an A380. But I don't think it. You feel like the motion as much. I think it's

supposed to be like a fairly smooth ride, which is like an incredible thing for a four engine giant plane. I have not ridden on either of them yet, but I mean, even A777 takeoff is pretty smooth. So I can't imagine what four engines feels like. Yeah. I mean, and there are long routes like, but I think I was on a 747, but I was 18 and

I was going to Europe for the first time and I didn't. I wish I had my boarding pass to look at or some way to like look up the flight because I definitely didn't like nerd out the way I would now. Right. So so these, these jumbo jets, as cool as they are, both Boeing and Airbus decided to stop manufacturing them. Why did that kind of

happen? Yeah, it's kind of a weird thing where they both decided to stop manufacturing them, I think, within months of each other. So Boeing had been making these planes, like we said, since 1969 when the first one rolled out and then decided, you know, about three years ago, I think it was early ish in the pandemic in 2020 that they said like, okay, that's it. But

the writing was on the wall. Boeing makes the 777. They make the 787 Dreamliner. They have more fuel efficient planes that can get even some in some cases longer range with just two engines. And if you're an airline, fuel is everything. And you just want, you know, the cheapest, most efficient plane possible. And the same thing happens with the Airbus. You know, they have the A350,

which is, you know, their most modern jetliner and 330 nose engine 330. And those are, you know, two engine jets. So the quads, the four engine jets, even the Airbus A340, those have all fallen out of favor. So it was it was just time. I mean, the pandemic, even if the pandemic didn't happen, I think that airlines were moving toward these other models anyway. And a

lot of airlines have already taken the 737 out of their fleets. So. And retired them. Yeah, I think before the pandemic, all US airlines had taken them out. Yeah, that's true. So the pandemic ended up like, you know, pushing them even further because obviously they stopped manufacturing them. But these planes fly for like 20 years during the pandemic. Many of these planes, if not almost all

of them, were grounded pretty much. I mean, there was no to the desert. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like go to sleep. We'll wake you up when we're ready for you. So that's essentially what happened. There was no international travel or very little international travel. It was almost impossible to go anywhere. The quarantine requirements, if countries were even allowing international visitors to come, they were. It's just it

was so impossible. I mean, it almost fell to zero. And it took more than a year for for that to sort of bounce back. Now, we're in a weird position in 2023 where they need that lift, they need those planes and some of the three 80s and even 747 are are getting reactivated. So they're still flying. It's just that there are very few of them. But

Airbus announced it, I think it was like 20. February 2019. It's Valentine's Day. And the CEO said, this is very sad news. It was a hard decision. It was no breaking the hearts of avgeeks around the world. I know broken, broken heart emojis. And you said this is a really sad decision, but we have to make it. You know, the biggest customer is Emirates. Emirates was

rethinking its fleet and this is like a full year before the pandemic really started. And I think people knew that, you know, it didn't get the orders that they hoped to get. They hoped to make, you know, more than 700 of them. And it was like around 250 that they actually made. Most of those are still flying. And in global fleets, you know, it had a

pretty short run for a plane. I mean, you think of even the 737 that's been around since 1967. So it's like a lot of these have a have a long life. But the the 380 just did not have you. Know, and I feel like at the time like seven for seven orders were also kind of on the decline. But obviously these planes take so long to

design and get to manufacturing. So today, you know, there's a lot of airlines just kind of want to go deeper into that, like which airlines are now starting to take these planes out of the desert and actually bringing them back. Etihad is taking them out of the desert, another airline that has just a crazy first class. I think they have something called the apartment or the

residence, which is essentially a room that you can get on the upper deck of the plane. Lufthansa has it still. Singapore Airlines, which has first class suites. I mean, the rooms are crazy. There's like an orchid in there that kind of there's sort of like this on like on a little table in the suite on the upper deck of their A380. You can fly it from

JFK to Frankfurt. It's part of Star Alliance. And it's like probably the easiest. Jumbos from New York to Frankfurt. If you're looking to fly on a jumbo. Frankfurt is definitely one of the destinations you need to look up. Yeah, it seems to be just like the corridor of A380s and like all those star lines, airlines like United, Lufthansa and Singapore. So that's one way to do

it. Qantas, I think, is taking some of them back, but they have. All their seven for seven. All their seven for seven are retired. I mean, if airlines weren't going to retire some of their jumbos before the pandemic was like a no brainer. And they're like, why are we going to hold on to this expensive plane? And then like, the longer they're in the desert, it's

all the maintenance costs and getting it back up and running. It's really expensive. But Lufthansa ordered seven for seven, like the latest model of the 747 not that long ago. And they're going to hold on to them because they're going to redo the business class cabin. So they're putting like real money into it. So those are going to continue flying for quite a while. Okay. I

really want to fly on one. I still haven't I feel ashamed to be talking on this show and I've never flown on a 747 or an A380, but I think my first choice would be 747. I don't know, iconic. My dream is to fly out on a 747 and back on an A380. I had that booked once and I had to cancel it and it was

like I still I think about it. Yeah, it was my goal in 20. I made it my goal in 2020 and then obviously that kind of went away, but maybe next year. Yeah, it's good to know that these airlines will still be flying them, you know, for at least 5 to 10. Years at least I'd say. I mean, you never know what's going to happen with

it's always like the thing you don't expect. So like after after 911, it wasn't another terrorist attack. It was a global financial crisis. After the global financial crisis, it was a global pandemic. So there's always some kind of shock that goes through the industry in general, but they are planning to hold on to them. And, you know, they're putting real money into those cabins because now

I think in the pandemic, people want to spend more money on themselves. And the the load factor, the paid load factor, that means like people that are actually paying for seats in first class business class is airline executives say that's gone up. So there's like a real treat yourself sort of environment going on with travel and those are the perfect planes to offer customers. So when

we saw the last 747 back in December, it was actually a cargo. Plane, Yeah one one that will never get to fly, probably never gets to fly on. Maybe we'll do a cargo, but. Our Amazon packages. Might. Yeah, that's true. It's one of Amazon's contractors but that's they fly different planes for Amazon. So the cargo programs have actually kept the 747 alive and the 747 has

this amazing design where the nose flips up, which is perfect for cargo loading. That's what it's designed for. And it is really cool to see it. And I think we got to see it. It wasn't completely closed when when we. Were there was open like a like a. Tiny Yeah. It was like it looked like a smile. Yeah, it was it was really cute. But those

orders, like UPS, had ordered some of the latest models of the 747. There were some. Passenger airlines that did order the latest. Lufthansa is one of them. So they are still flying. But for the most part, the orders in the last few years have been cargo. Cargo carriers. So who is still flying? If I if I want to fly on a 747 and A380, which airline

should I be looking at? You have more choices for the 380in terms of numbers of airlines. For the 747, you have Lufthansa, which still makes a lot of use of them. And we were talking about how for the newest ones, that they're going to redo their business class. Korean Air still flies the 747, but not really a lot beyond that. Air China has some 747 seconds.

The A380 is a bit more common or there are more airlines that use it. Emirates, Etihad, Air France has it, British Airways has A380s. Singapore Air has three 80s and Yeah. So there are several airlines have options. You have options and. A little bit of time to finally fly on one of these jumbos like a. Significant amount of time. Okay. So well. I'm going to start

saving because I want to I want a business class, upper deck 747 experience. No, like middle of like the middle row in economy for you. That's not where. I want to be. You don't want to get served food like an hour and a half. On the nose. Yeah, yeah. It's going to upper deck. It's got to be the perfect seat. Yeah, that makes sense. Make the

best of it. All right, well, that is it for this episode of Now Boarding. Thanks for joining us. And we'll see you next. Time. Now boarding is produced by Aaron Black and Leslie Josephs with Camera by Liam Mays, Animations by Jason Reginato with support from senior production Manager Kathy Mavrakis, supervising producer Jeniece Pettitt and executive producer Camelia Angelova.