Aviation Business Expert Comments on Aircraft Purchasing Trend

Smaller, more fuel-efficient aircraft that can fly farther – such as Boeing’s 737 MAX and 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A330 – are seeing more sales than the massive Airbus 380 or the Boeing 747, Ashley Halsey III reported in the Washington Post.

To help explain this aviation business trend, Halsey called on Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University expert Bijan Vasigh. Vasigh, the author of Foundations of Airline Finance: Methodology and Practice, serves as professor of economics and finance in Embry-Riddle’s College of Business on the Daytona Beach Campus.

“The most expensive part of the aircraft is the engine,” Vasigh told Halsey. “The Airbus 380 has four engines. If you don’t fill it up with 550 passengers, you may have lost your profit share.”

Such a large plane can be best used by airlines carrying many passengers between large hub cities, the Washington Post article explained. For example, Dubai-based Emirates Airlines has made recent purchases of the A380. Moreover, Airbus Marketing Chief Frank Vermiere said that demand for the A380 will rise as global air travel between megacities continues to increase.

Halsey’s article, “Is the Airbus 380 the future of air travel of a relic of the past?” was published by the Washington Post on Aug. 19, 2018.