Airbus superjumbo gets boost from large order by Emirates

An Emirates' A380 passes over Dubai Air Show 2013, flanked by the UAE Air Force Al Forsan team.

The world's largest passenger plane will live to fight another day. Airbus's A380 superjumbo got a fresh 50-jet order from Emirates Airline, the Dubai flag carrier, on Sunday at the Dubai Air Show.

The order was the first of the year for the twin-deck aeroplane, which has struggled with weak demand from airlines, which must struggle to fit such a large plane into their networks. Emirates is the largest buyer of the A380, with 39 in service and 101 now on order.

The plane has lost favour with several airlines, with Lufthansa and Air France-KLM backing away from the jet in favour of smaller aircraft and Virgin Atlantic Airways saying it will review whether it needs any of the six A380s it has ordered.

In the plane's early days, Airbus marketed the spacious double-decker as a flying luxury palace, and several airlines touted visions of casinos, restaurants and shopping galleries as potential amenities for well-heeled travellers on the A380. Those days, about 12 years ago, were before the global financial crisis and before volatility became the norm for jet fuel prices.

Today, the plane flies with about 500 seats on the few global airlines that use it: Singapore, Emirates, Air France, Lufthansa and British Airways.

Korean Air, for example, puts only 407 seats on its A380.

Emirates' inaugural Dubai-Auckland service video:

"We're looking at optimising the space on this aircraft and making it more efficient," said Doric's managing director Mark Lapidus.

"It's a cash-printing machine for an airline that is using it correctly."

And that means more seats and a better return on each flight - to the point of potentially moving the crew rest quarters to the cargo hold, he said. A primary consideration in the new A380s will be seating density: whether to continue with a 10-abreast seat arrangement in the economy cabin or move to 11, with a 3-5-3 configuration.

That would add about 40 additional seats in the cabin. Emirates puts its first and business-class sections on the upper deck.

"I am sure Airbus is going to persuade us to do it," Emirates president Tim Clark told Aviation Week, with the airline's goal being to keep its coach-class seats at least 18 inches wide.