Gambling In The Skies

Airbus says it has some potential customers interested in turning the massive A380 superjumbo jet into a flying casino. The casino jets could be ready by 2012. The customers haven’t been identified.

Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Sands Corp., has revealed plans to trick out two L-1011 jets with baccarat tables. The jets would carry high rollers from Hong Kong to the two Sands casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip – the Venetian and the brand-new Palazzo.

The L-1011 is my all-time favorite aircraft, a triple-engine wide-body with a nice ride. (I’m partial to big metal.) The last L-1011 was manufactured 25 years ago, and only 250 were ever built. There aren’t a whole lot of them in the air any more, although ATA flies a couple on charters.

Of course I hardly qualify as a high roller, so it’s unlikely I’m going to get to fly on the Sands’ L-1011s.  That’s OK. I don’t know how to play baccarat, anyway.