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Airbus Wants To Cram More People Into World's Biggest Passenger Plane

The A380 carries an average of 497 passengers — and the company wants to bump that number up.
Posted at 10:59 AM, Apr 05, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-05 10:59:51-04

Airbus is trying to make the biggest passenger aircraft fit even more people — so if you like feeling like a sardine, this could be the travel option for you.

The Airbus A380 is a double-decker aircraft and holds an average of 497 passengers. The company wants to bump that number to 575.

To do that, it would remove a top deck stowage area, rearrange and combine staircases and move crew rest areas.

The A380 has been declining in popularity. The company cut production of the jumbo jet in 2016 because there's less demand for giant airliners.

Giant aircraft can really only land in hub cities. So if a passenger is heading somewhere that's not a metropolis, they'll probably have to switch to a smaller plane at some point.

So airlines are looking at smaller planes because they can land in more places and they're more fuel-efficient.

But not every company is thinking that way. Airbus believes the airline market is headed for bigger planes.