The new Dominican airline, Air Dominicana has recently taken delivery of three new ‘Flying Duck’ airbuses. The new planes are the latest models from the European manufacturer and can reportedly carry 15% more passengers, 25% more luggage, and 18 more stewardesses, 19 if they are particularly slim or if they agree not to eat during the flight.
The Flying Ducks, officially known as the A381’s are the latest innovation designed to cut into sales of Airbus’s main rival Boeing. So far, sales have been slow, and Air Dominicana is the first client to take a risk on the new model.
Air Dominicana’s president, Juan Jose Hidalgo was very confident that the new planes would be a boost to the new
company’s image and efficiency.
“We know that tourists love ducks, and so they will love our planes. Even ducks like the new planes!” he said.
The one chief advantage of the new shape, is that the long, flexible neck allows the front of the plane to adjust up or down. This means that when the plane is flying through clouds, the cockpit can be lifted out of the clouds so the pilot can get a clear view of the path ahead, while the main body of the plane remains in the clouds collecting and filtering moisture through specially designed air-intakes for the air-conditioning and coffee-making system.
Christian Streiff, chief executive of Airbus, was keen to talk about the new planes to our reporter.
“Thirty years after launching the world’s first twin-aisle, twin-engine jetliner, we’ve introduced the A381 as the first true double-duck passenger airliner for the long-range market. The A381 offers unprecedented levels of productivity, efficiency and economics in passenger service, while the A381-800F cargo version is to be the first commercial freighter with three full cargo ducks.”
The Dutch airline KLM is also rumored to be interested in trying out the new planes. If they do make a purchase the ‘Flying Dutch Ducks’ would fly into Puerto Plata once a week.
Rumors regarding Lufthansa’s interest in operating ‘Flying Deutsche Ducks’ out of Frankfurt have also surfaced
Virgin Airlines in the UK have also had some discussion with Airbus and are looking to test out some ‘Virgin Ducks’.
American Eagle Airlines are unsure about the new planes as its unclear whether ‘American Eagle Ducks’ would perform better.
Air Canada have said they will definately not be buying the A381’s, as there is nothing vaguely funny in the term ‘Canuck Duck’. They have indicated that they would however be interested in a “Canuck Puck” plane shaped like an ice-hockey puck which they believe would travel faster.
