The A-380 was a marvelous concept and a technological feat only scouted by the 747 lines of aircraft. However, the 747 had a long run before the A-380 showed up and a point to point model for travel was “what people wanted”. The beach chair instead of the A-380 seat chair. The A380 was not the vacation but the destination came back into vogue. The long airport lines, customs, or inspection was no longer what passengers wanted. The passengers wanted about 300 in line acknowledging time was money more than a crowd going for the same beach for which an A-380 could land.
In other words, the real estate did not grow in Martinique so it could allow a bigger crowd to begin its vacation from the opposite departure gate before embarking to paradise. The vacation starts at the beach, and not at the jetway. People’s vacation starts with a brochure not the airplane seats for 500 people at a crowded airport! The A-380 was a bad idea for people wanting to escape each year. It was a bad idea if conducting business from a budget account of $19.99 beach towels or toilet paper. It was a bad idea sleeping in first-class when a passenger had a Swiss alps lodge awaiting a long winter’s nap just two hours away.
The A-380 was a bad idea period. Economy for the masses once a day didn’t cut it for the profit line when filling up the A-380 with Jet-A. A smaller jumbo could in effect get a passenger to its destination to a business or vacation destination while not trying to make a journey as part of the vacation.