How Many Passengers Can You Get on an A380?

From Alternative Airline News (January 16, 2009) comes this tidbit.

Air Austral (on the island of Reunion, in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa) has “signed a memorandum of understanding” to buy two of the new double-decker Airbus A380 aircraft. The airline said it plans to outfit the planes as all economy, with 853 seats, to service the Reunion-to-Paris route.

Which would be an interesting contrast to Virgin Atlantic’s plans for “double beds, private rooms, masseuses and manicurists, bars, showers, and in countries where we’re allowed to, roulette and blackjack,” according to Richard Branson in an interview back in December 2007.