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Business Traveller

Onboard the Airbus A380; Meet A New Breed of Super Commuter, Tales of Life In Two Cities; Dubrovnik Restored, Tourism Revived

Aired May 12, 2007 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR, BUSINESS TRAVELLER: Hello and welcome to CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER. I'm Richard Quest, this month reporting from Singapore. It's all a bit different in the month of May.
We've got two programs. The first, today, looking at the future of aviation and the airline industry. Then, later in the month we'll be looking at the BUSINESS TRAVELLER experience and our effect on the environment. Can we do more to protect planet Earth?

It's a busy month of travel so, on this month's CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER --

(Voice over): We're onboard the Airbus A380; we're meeting the super commuters, and spending air miles in Dubrovnik, this month on CNN.

(On camera): Singapore is the perfect place for us to begin out look into the future of aviation, because it is from here that the A380, the super jumbo, will make it's first commercial flight later this year when it departs for Sydney, Australia. There's been a lot written and talked about on the A380, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST (voice over): Two years over due and billions of dollars over budget, but for this group that probably doesn't matter for an hour or so. We've been waiting for this day for years, our chance to fly on the super jumbo.

(On camera): With 200 journalists onboard, it's pretty much a nightmare. You can imagine everybody is filming, looking, prodding, pushing, turning, making sure things work, seeing what the plane is actually like.

(Voice over): The plane is giant from whichever way you look, back, front, up and down. But today's view is different, it's bird's eye, from the inside looking out, as we fly for the first time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The take off weight today is going to be around 361 tons, and we have 48 tons of fuel onboard at the moment. You can now take your seats, sit back and enjoy the flight. Thank you.

QUEST (on camera): The take off roll is quick. Within seconds we're swept airborne by the Trent 900 Rolls Royce engines, and the awesome 79 meter wingspan of the bird that took flight. Airbus always said this was a quiet plane. They might be right. From the inside, at least, you could hardly hear a thing as we lifted into the air, but the other side is because it so big it definitely feels like it was moving around -- we were wallowing and juttering a bit as we took off.

You can search high and low for the bars and gyms, the spas, the casinos, all the things we were promised with the 380, the reality is it's a very expensive plane to buy and that means airlines have to put as many seats as possible at the back.

(Voice over): On this plane there are seats just about everywhere. The upper deck has 64 business class passengers, 136 economy seats. The main deck, 12 first class seats, and 307 in economy. This demonstration plane with three classes of service has a total of 519 seats. Considerably fewer than the 800 plus passengers the plane is certified to carry. Just imagine what it would be like if it was full.

With a camera at the top of the 24-meter high tail we get a different view of the plane over the ground. There are hidden treasures. The quarters where the crews will rest on long, trans-oceanic flights, or the elevators that ensure passengers on both decks are fed and watered. And with our perusal in full swing, there is unfortunately one thing I can't tell you, what it's like to fly it.

PETER CHANDLER, A380 PILOT: Well, sometimes when we fly the airplane up to 550 tons, yes, there's a lot of inertia there. You have to anticipate a little bit more, but in general the feel of the airplane is like a much smaller airplane. It's like a much smaller airplane. It's a very responsive airplane, it feels when you're flying it manually that, with the slide stick, rather more like flying a 320.

QUEST: Upstairs, downstairs, there's plenty of room for passengers. So much room that many airlines believe the plane is simply too big for their needs. Airbus believes, hub-to-hub is big point to point. And transporting masses of people to popular hub destinations is the way of the future.

JOHN LEAHY, AIRBUS: This airplane will become the cash cow for Airbus like the 747 was the cash cow for Boeing. This market is a market for 1660 aircraft over a 20 year period. We're essentially the only one in the market who will at least get half of that market, 800 to 900 airplanes will make this program very profitable.

QUEST: When the 380 comes into service there will be huge teething problems to be sure, long lines, late luggage. But the plane is flying and will go into service before the year is out. The 380 is coming to an airport near you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Here in Chicago the ups and downs of the A380 have been watched with particular interest. This city is the headquarters of Boeing. And I've come here to meet the top man, to find out about the future plans of Boeing, particularly the 787 Dreamliner. More than 500 of the planes have been sold and It's not even had it's maiden flight. Boeing versus Airbus, in the windy city there is a lot of hot air about the fact that Boeing is doing extremely well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST (voice over): It's all the glitz and glamour, a Virgin product launch, we're in Chicago's Science Museum to hear the announcement that Sir Richard Branson's airline is buying 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The purchase breaks the airline's long held allegiance to the motto, "Four engines, for longer haul."

SIR RICHARD BRANSON, CHAIRMAN, VIRGIN GROUP: Well, at the moment the Dreamliner plane, which is behind us, is 30 percent more fuel efficient than the other planes we can buy. It's nearly 65 percent quieter than other planes that we can buy. So this is the plane that we're going to buy today. If Airbus can come in with a plane is 30 percent more fuel efficient than this, we'll certainly be happy to turn to Airbus again.

QUEST: The decision about which plane to buy pitted Airbus and Boeing in a fierce competition.

JIM MCNERNEY, CEO, BOEING: This is not a easy industry to compete in and we were humbled 10 years ago and it's a humbling industry to begin with. So, I think, uh -- there's plenty of customers to have and airplanes to build without trying to make fun of the other guy. I have a lot of respect for Airbus. Look at what they've done over the last 30 years. It's been phenomenal. They've got a couple of tough years here. They'll get through it; they'll do well.

QUEST: Vast gleaming flying machines. And the most complex technology on the planet. The planes may fascinate us, but the real battle for the skies is happening firmly on the ground. If you run an airline you have an enviable choice. Boeing, from the United States, versus Europe's Airbus; each plane maker has their backers and their detractors in this mire of politics, power, money and influence. One thing's for sure, for every plane order going, it's a mighty struggle between the two.

KIERNAN DAILY, AIR TRANSPORT INTELLIGENCE: There are really three major contests, which everybody is concerned about at the moment. There's the question of whether Airbus can sell the A380 against really the entire rest of the Boeing large aircraft range, because that debate is all about which size of airplane do you want?

Then there is this really Titanic struggle between in the middle class airplanes, which is the Boeing 787, the Dreamliner. That has been selling very well and which is out there in the market versus the Airbus A350, which Airbus also got into some difficulties with. And now we're just seeing the very, very beginnings of what will eventually perhaps be the biggest contest of all, which is who will replace the 7,000, 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 of these smaller narrow-body airplanes.

QUEST: Orders for new planes tell the story. For the best part of a decade Airbus has held the lead in orders and deliveries. Boeing has struggled with a painful restructuring. Those tables have turned. Technical problems with the super jumbo were symptomatic of a broader malaise at Airbus. Last year, Boeing regained the lead when it came to orders.

Make or break for the plane makers doesn't lie with the traveling public. The fate of Airbus and Boeing will be decided in airline board rooms around the world. Who wins between Airbus and Boeing could only be judged over a large number of years. One thing's for sure, you and I are squashed into the back of 36F, we don't have much say in the matter and it's still going to seem like a very long flight.

(On camera): In the end, Boeing and Airbus are in the business of moving large numbers of people much greater distances. It's also given rise to a new breed of traveller, for whom crossing oceans is almost as easy as say, crossing the Chicago River.

They're called the super commuter. And when we come back, after the break, I'm off to San Francisco to meet this hardy breed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Lombard Street in San Francisco, here they call it the crooked street in the city. The twists and turns, the way it wends its way, it's a bit similar to the life of the super commuter, those who spend their life on the road, going backwards and forwards, never really sure where they are. It's a growing phenomenon as more people decide to brave the long hours and loneliness.

(Voice over): Patrick Larwi (ph) is always opening and closing doors to his different lives. He commutes between San Francisco and Hong Kong every two weeks.

PATRICK LARWI (ph), GLOBAL COMMUTER: People think that I lead a very glamorous life and I'm very happy to entertain that fantasy at times.

The reality is really quite different. I really like having my foot in two different cultures, two very different worlds, but there are times when I would really like to have a garden and a dog.

QUEST: Patrick works for a new media company, with an office in both cities.

LARWI: I have to have two bank accounts. I two sets of clothes and two different closets on two different continents. It's hard for me to remember where my shoes are sometimes.

I have two sets of friends. It's very important to have a social life so that's absolutely required. I have to have two sets of business contacts. I have to have two sets of business cards. I have to know a good place to get my haircut in Hong Kong and a good place to have my hair cut in San Francisco.

QUEST: He crosses the Pacific, and the dateline, as part of his commute.

Felix Marquardt has as much easier.

FELIX MARQUARD, INTERNATIONAL HARVARD (ph) TELECOM (ph): Sometimes when I travel between London and Paris I feel like I am almost taking the subway. It's quite and easy thing to do. It's very manageable. The trip is not very long.

QUEST: His family is in Paris, his career is in London.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome aboard (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to Derry (ph).

QUEST: Good planning to get cheap tickets on EuroStar make this commute affordable; 50 percent of the passengers on this train are commuters.

EasyJet estimates that up to 10,000 of it's weekly passengers are on a commute.

TOBY NICOLE, COMMUTER: A super commuter on low-cost EasyJet Airlines generally tend to be male. They tend to be 50 to 60, people who made a lot of money in the London area. What they do, they've taken some of that money, they now live in southern Spain, southern France, perhaps even Geneva, places like that. They leave their homes on a Sunday evening or first thing Monday morning, and they're back on the last flight on Friday.

QUEST: While the airlines are making this lifestyle possible, it still comes with a lot of baggage.

Now, in Hong Kong, Patrick finds exercise as the way to ease off the travel treadmill. While it may ease the burden, he knows, long-term, there's no future in this type of travel commute.

LARWI: The biggest problem living this kind of life is knowing that it can't go on forever. I know that when I'm jet lagged and I wake up in the middle of the night and I'm not quite sure where I am, and I know it when I see that I have furniture in one place and artwork in another.

QUEST (on camera): Define home as home where the furniture is, where the heart is, or where the job is?

LARWI: The home is where I am.

QUEST (on camera): Airports like Hong Kong are second home to those like Patrick Larwi. Here at Chet Black Hawk, it is a growing part of increasing significance. After all, you have to remember hub-to-hub is also point-to-point. What this means is that many more airlines are going to want to fly through these major destinations. Sometimes they'll do it through co-fares (ph) with other alliance carriers, often they'll want to run the route themselves, for instance, like Air New Zealand.

(Voice over): Our journey starts in New Zealand, where the national carrier, Air New Zealand is making new connections of it's own. It's extended Auckland to Hong Kong flights all the way to London. From there, passengers can then return home via Air New Zealand to Los Angeles, the home stretch being all the way across the Pacific. This is one airline taking you all around the world on it's own plane.

ROB FYTE, CEO, AIR NEW ZEALAND: On the route between Auckland and London via either Hong Kong or via L.A., we want to be the market share leader. And our view is that in tune to the traffic between London and Auckland we can gain 35 to 40 percent of that traffic. That's our goal.

(On camera): International travellers consistently tell me, therefore, I suspect you've also heard the same, that they will do almost anything to avoid transiting through a U.S. airport, with all the security, the delays and the problems. How important was that in your choice of Hong Kong as a new transit point?

FYTE: The spot we could get at Heathrow, to land, which incidentally we got for no considerations, are highly valuable to us. Getting that slot when we did, late in the evening, put us in Hong Kong first thing in the morning, which is an ideal niche, then flights into China, and flights around Southeast Asia.

(Voice over): Tonight is special. These passengers are about embark on a 26-hour journey, more than 18,000 kilometers. The Auckland to Hong Kong leg is not new Air Zed's been plying that trade for some time. It's the Hong Kong extension to London that's causing this excitement. It will double Air New Zealand's daily reach to London and pitch it against the big boys, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Cafe Pacific and Qantas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: That was a long trip, time for a bit of relaxation. Cash in those air miles, go somewhere new. When we come back after the break find out where I went when I redeemed to recharge.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Welcome back to CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER. Miraculously enough, I'm still in London with this special edition all about the future of aviation. One of the biggest trends in the past 25 years has been collecting air miles. We pick them up wherever we go, and then we spend them on airline tickets, hotels, restaurants. You can even have a night on the town. It was once said that when a man is tired of London, he's tired of life. Well, I'm not tired of it yet, but I did want to go a bit further a field when it came to spending my own air miles. It was time for a bit of R&R to Dubrovnik and Croatia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST (voice over): The drawbridge entrance of Palachi (ph) Gate, it all sets the tone of this charming coastal town. Architecture that is Baroque and Renaissance. Dubrovnik exudes the Romanticism that inspires fairy tales.

(EXPLOSION)

How different it was 15 years ago, then this Medieval town was a nightmare. As Dubrovnik came under siege, during the break up of Yugoslavia in 1991.

PAVA BRAILO, TOUR GUIDE: The city has been constantly shelled from the Jarkovitza (ph) Hills.

QUEST (on camera): Jarkovitz (ph)?

BRAILO: Jarkovitza (ph). It was really from here that all the impact on the main street were caused by the shelling.

QUEST (voice over): Pava Brailo has been giving tours for more than 30 years. She was born in this old town, and she lived just behind that cathedral.

(On camera): Now, the Rector's Palace, who was the rector?

BRAILO: The rector was the head of state. It was the time when only noblemen could vote and be elected.

QUEST: This is only men, this isn't women.

BRAILO: Men, yes, from the age of 20.

It's a restful place. It's a place of -- for meditation and, say, contemplation.

QUEST (voice over): Fifteen years seems a long time ago, because Dubrovnik has been restored to what it once was and is now a high-end tourist destination. Here it is generating 11 percent of Croatia's tourism income.

(on camera): If the crowds in Dubrovnik have become too much, the best way to see the Croatian coast line is, of course, is from the Adriatic. I'm aboard Karaka, a replica Medieval warship. This is the way to see things.

Escaping in Croatia. It's a big wide world, there's a lot to see. And that's CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER for this month. I'm Richard Quest, we've been reporting from Chicago, Singapore, Hong Kong, and now, London. We'll be back in a couple of weeks with the second part of this special edition, looking at the future of travel. We'll be talking about the changing travel experience and we're effect we're having on the environment.

For the moment, where ever your future travel takes you, I hope it's profitable. I'll see you in a few weeks.

END

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