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The Airbus A380 is the largest passenger plane ever built and the only full-length double-deck airliner. Airbus designed it to serve more passengers on long-haul routes between major airports. Production has ended, but the type still flies with a group of large international airlines, and Airbus calls it a passenger favourite.
Design and development
Airbus began studies in 1988 and announced the project in 1990 to challenge the dominance of the Boeing 747 on long-haul routes. The design, then called the A3XX, was presented in 1994, and Airbus launched the A380 programme on 19 December 2000. The first prototype was unveiled in Toulouse on 18 January 2005 and made its first flight on 27 April 2005, and the type received its type certificate from EASA and the FAA on 12 December 2006.
The programme was not smooth. Problems with the electrical wiring delayed initial production by two years, and development costs almost doubled. Technically the A380 set precedents: Airbus says it was the first aircraft its engineers designed with a full digital mock-up, and it used carbon fibre reinforced plastic parts that were later adopted on a large scale on the A350.
Specifications
The numbers explain the nickname. The A380 is 73 metres long and 24 metres high, with a wingspan of 79.8 metres. Its two passenger decks have a combined floor area of 550 square metres. The wingspan is a compromise: the wing was built for a maximum take-off weight above 600 tonnes to allow larger versions, and its optimal span would be about 90 metres, but airport limits of 80 metres forced a longer chord instead.
The production model has a maximum take-off weight of 575 tonnes and a typical seating of 525 passengers, and it is certified for a maximum of 853 seats. Its range is about 8,000 nautical miles (14,800 km), roughly 17 hours of flight. It is powered by four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or four Engine Alliance GP7000 engines. Airbus puts its fuel use at about 3.1 litres per 100 passenger-kilometres, and its design cruise speed is Mach 0.85.
The cabin is where passengers notice the size. The A380 is pressurised to the equivalent of 1,520 m at cruising altitudes up to 12,000 m, and Airbus points to a wider cabin, wider seats, more headroom, LED mood lighting and a change of cabin air every 2 to 3 minutes. Airlines used the space in different ways: Singapore Airlines introduced partly enclosed first-class suites in 2007, Qantas added a sofa lounge at the front of the upper deck a year later, and Emirates began offering shower spas for first-class passengers in late 2008.
Variants
Only one passenger model, the A380-800, was built, in three versions that differ by engine: the A380-841 and A380-842 with Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines and the A380-861 with Engine Alliance GP7000 engines. A stretched A380-900 was planned for about 650 passengers in a standard layout, but Airbus postponed its development in May 2010.
Operators and service
The first aircraft was delivered to Singapore Airlines on 15 October 2007 and entered service on 25 October. Emirates was the second airline to receive the type and started flying it between Dubai and New York in August 2008. In all, 251 A380s were delivered to 14 customers, and Emirates is the largest operator. Other airlines Airbus lists as operating the type are All Nippon Airways, Asiana, British Airways, Etihad, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Qantas, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines.
Production peaked at 30 aircraft a year in 2012 and 2014 and ended in 2021. The final A380 made its first flight on 17 March 2021 and was delivered to Emirates on 16 December 2021. Airbus says operators will keep receiving its support and services for decades. The fleet has shrunk since its peak: in April 2024 there were 189 aircraft in service with 10 operators, and five of the fifteen airlines that flew the type had retired it. Where it still flies, it mainly serves long-haul international routes between major airports; Emirates, for example, flies it from London to Perth via Dubai.
Safety record
Similar aircraft
- Boeing 747-8: a version of the Boeing 747, the jumbo jet the A380 was conceived to challenge, listed as an aircraft of similar role and era.
- Boeing 777X: a large twin-engine airliner in the same comparison.