Forget Zac and Vanessa. Who needs ‘High School Musical’ when the real deal — Grease’s Danny and Sandy, of course — are still around? Today, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (pictured above) were reunited at LAX, on board an extra-special Qantas flight.
Plane-mad Danny (that’s Travolta, youngsters) was the de facto captain, while Sandy (Newton-John, like you don’t know), kitted out in the brand new cabin uniform, was one of the cocktail jockeys for a two-hour VIP flight – cooked up to fanfareishly welcome Qantas‘s brand new A380 megajet.
It touched down in LA last night on its maiden commercial voyage, the first of Qantas’s 20-strong fleet of the $315m planes (the Aussie carrier joins Emirates and Singapore in flying this mega-jet) At the hooplaish welcome today, LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (part car salesman, part Tony Blair, all politician) was roped in, for a press conference and welcome, all choreographed to a soundtrack of Aboriginal music.
The plane doesn’t disappoint: parked next to the liveried 707 Travolta regularly flies, it dwarfs the older model like a 1990s handset next to a Razr. The A380 is so large it’s more like two conventional jets sandwiched together: the upper deck, instead of being a bubble-like hideaway, now has a full 72-seater biz cabin plus 32-strong Premium Econ; while on the main deck, 332-seater economy stretches back (in artfully carved-up sections) almost as far as the eye can see.
There are some thoughtful touches – help-yourself snack bar stations and souped-up entertainment on-demand systems with 100+ movies sans straight-to-video fillers in every cabin class (yes, even cattle). But it’s the design that’s most impressive: sure, Emirates may have walk-in showers, but Qantas has Marc Newson, the industrial icon who went from reimagining bizclass seats with his category-shattering SkyBed five years ago to helming the entire plane today.
Sure, the first class seats are lavish (17″ screens) but let’s face it – few people will benefit from that. Thankfully, it’s in the economy section where Newson’s most creatively applied his genius. The new carbon fiber seat is thinner (translation: more leg room). Econo-classers also have power outlets and and USB docks in-armrest, and a special sleep-inducing extra.
When reclining, it isn’t just the back but also the base of the seat that slides, while there’s a special ‘foot net’ (trust us, it’s comfier than it sounds) to for your sockless feet. An extra bonus: that net is far better for circulation, radically reducing the risk of long-haul peril DVT. No wonder, given that Qantas is one of the airlines whose core routes regularly top 12+ hours.
Given his impressive showing so far, it’s hardly surprising that Qantas has surrendered itself entirely to Newson: the A380 is just the latest in his projects as the Creative Director of the airline – we’ve already given the thumbs up to the first class lounges he opened last year. Maybe next he can work on that ‘Grease’ remake.
— Mark Ellwood
