Step Away From the Fuel Truck, Big Boy.

It is rumored that something's going on in Lufthansa that has to do with fuel economy on the A380 and it has to do with whether the fuel consumption is 2.9 or 3.2 liters per passenger per 100 klicks.

Apparently there's a split between what sort of fuel consumption per seat mile was guaranteed and what is actually taking place. This could be due to a number of reasons. If the fuel consumption was predicated on 555 seats, it would of course look better than it does at a more realistic figure of around 500 seats.

As we discussed here in February, the 800 pound gorilla on the coffee table is the fact that there's just not enough excess payload capacity on the Albatross to allow for 555 seats, luggage, cargo and range.

Stay tuned-this could be a big issue if it has legs.

As yet the facts are unclear, and the only information available is a piece in the German edition of Der Spiegel.

Here's the original German.

Aber die Not mit dem A380 ist viel größer: Das Flugzeug ist nach Expertenmeinung zu schwer, verbraucht folglich mehr als die von Airbus zugesagten 2,9 Liter Kraftstoff pro Passagier und 100 Kilometer. Lufthansa geht in seinen Berechnungen von 3,2 Litern aus - immerhin zehn Prozent mehr als vom Hersteller angegeben. "Sollte das Flugzeug im Betrieb mehr als vom Hersteller angegeben verbrauchen, sind Entschädigungszahlungen fällig", sagt ein Branchenkenner. Außerdem rechne Airbus damit, dass es einen Markt für 1200 bis 1500 Flugzeuge vom Typ A380 gibt. Erzrivale Boeing gehe eher von einem Bedarf von 300 oder maximal 400 Exemplaren aus - und liegt damit womöglich näher an der Wirklichkeit.

It translates roughly as:

But the need with the A380 is much bigger: The airplane is too heavy according to expert's opinion, consequently uses more than 2.9 liters promised by airbus of fuel per passenger and 100 kilometers. Lufthansa goes out in his calculations from 3.2 liters - at least ten percent more than from the manufacturer given. " Should the airplane use in the company more than from the manufacturer given, compensation payments are due ", says a branch expert. In addition, airbus calculates one on the fact, that it