Country of origin:

International

Description:

Long-range commercial airliner

Power Plant:

Four 72,000 lbst Rolls Royce Trent 900 turbofans

Specifications:

History:

The A380 has been described as a giant amongst airliners, being 73 m long, nearly 80 m in span, weighing 560 tonnes at take-off, seating up to 555 passengers, and flying further and more cheaply per seat. Although development of the type had been taking place for some years, after receiving orders for more than 40 aircraft from a number of airlines, Airbus announced late in 2000 that it would launch the new type, with the first flight to be made in 2004, with deliveries to commence a year later. At the same time the airline launched the A380-100F freighter with a 160 tonne payload.

The A380 had 43 per cent more usable floor space than the Boeing 747-400, giving the potential capability for airlines to have all manner of passenger facilities, ranging from a gymnasium to a casino, bars, a duty free shop, and it was suggested a McDonalds restaurant. However, the reality was that airlines used this extra floor space for extra seats.

More than 20 airlines worked with Airbus in the development of the basic design, including Qantas, all participating in working groups feeding Airbus with expectations and requirements for the aircraft. Initially the basic model, the A380-100, was to appear in twin-deck, 555- seat, 548 tonne configuration with the ability to fly 14,445 km (8,976 miles). This was expected to form the basis for a family of aircraft, including the higher-gross-weight 560 tonne A380-100HGW model; and the freighter which was able to carry 17 pallets on the upper deck, 28 on the main deck, and 12 on the lower deck.

Combi versions were also to become available, seating 473 passengers, or 11 pallets and 421 passengers. One development was the extended range A380-100R with a max take-off weight of 590 tonnes and a range of 16,200 km (10,066 miles); and another was the reduced capacity and shortened fuselage model A380-50R with a fuselage length of 67.9 m (222 ft 6 in) and a range of 16,200 km (10,066 miles). Eventually a stretched fuselage model known as the A380-200 with a 590 tonne max take-off weight and accommodation for 656 passengers in three classes was considered.

Two manufacturers designed and developed engines available to power the new airliner. One, the 72,000 lbst Engine Alliance GP7200, was produced by a company set up for the purpose of developing engines of this power by General Electric and Pratt & Whitney. The other manufacturer was Rolls Royce, with its Trent 900 series. Airbus stated the aircraft would make substantial use of composite materials and light-weight alloys, these including 140 tonnes of aluminium alloy, 35 tonnes of carbon fibre reinforced plastics, 15 tonnes of titanium, and 13 tonnes of high-strength steel. When completed the wing would be the largest carbon fibre wing ever built.

The first A380 powered by the Alliance engine (c/n 009), the fifth development aircraft, flew on 25 August 2006, the engines at that time being rated at 81,000 lbst.

The consortium building the aircraft raised development funding from a number of risk-sharing companies which would fund their own work, these including AIDC in Taiwan; Belairbus in Belgium; Eurocopter in France and Germany; Hurel Dubois in France; Finavitec in Finland; GKN Westland Aerospace in the United Kingdom; Latecoere in France; SAAB in Sweden; and Stork Aerospace in The Netherlands. CASA in Spain was responsible for the tailplane; BAe Systems the wings; Aerospatiale Matra the cockpit and centre fuselage; and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace the forward and aft fuselage sections and fin. Other manufacturers produced other components. Final assembly took place at the Jean-Luc Larardere final assembly line.

In a high density configuration the stretched A380-200 would have been able to carry 1,000 passengers. Nine exit doors were fitted on each side, and new upper-deck escape sliders were developed to meet escape criteria. The aircraft was designed for simultaneous boarding on both decks once airport infrastructure had been developed to allow such. Each deck was fully independent in terms of galleys and services. Final assembly of the aircraft took place at Toulouse in France, initial production being four aircraft a month.

Singapore Airlines was the first operator to put the type into service on commercial passenger services, the company’s aircraft having less than 500 seats in a three-class configuration, first, Raffles (business) and economy.

The freighter variant had a payload almost a third greater than that of the Boeing 747 and with a full payload had a range of 10,360 km (6,438 miles). This variant was ordered by Federal Express and United Parcel Services with an introduction into service date of 2008. On its three decks the A380 could carry 57 pallets of freight, and at the time of the first flight, 27 firm orders had been received for the freight variant.

On 29 November 2000 Qantas announced an order for further examples of the Boeing 747-400 series, thirteen Airbus A330 series, and twelve A380s, with an option on a further twelve A380s, the latter for delivery between 2006 and 2011 to meet passenger growth on selected long-haul routes. This made Qantas one of the launch customers for the new aircraft, a spokesman saying the new type would meet longer-term passenger growth on key routes between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. First aircraft were expected to be delivered in November 2006 and registrations VH-OQA to VH-OQL were allotted, VH-OQA (c/n 014) to be delivered in October 2006, followed by VH-OQB (c/n 015) and VH-OQC (c/n 021).

In the event Airbus announced, due to production problems, the first aircraft would be delayed to April 2007 and all 12 were expected to be in service by June 2009. However, in June 2006 Airbus announced there would be further delays and the first aircraft would not be delivered before October 2007. Later again this was put back to August 2008.

Late in 2005 Qantas announced its A380s would seat 474 passengers, the first aircraft being named after the Australian aviatrix ‘Nancy Bird Walton’. On 29 October 2006 Qantas announced it was converting eight of the 12 options to firm orders, taking the fleet to 20 aircraft. However, in early 2019 Qantas announced that its initial order for 20 aircraft placed in 2006 had been changed and it had cancelled its outstanding order for eight.

The prototype A380-800 (F-WWOW – c/n 001) was rolled out to the public on 18 January 2005, and flew for the first time at Toulouse Blagnac International Airport, France on 27 April 2005 powered by four Rolls Royce Trent 900 turbofans, taking off at a weight of 421 tonnes (928,300 lb), the maiden flight being for 54 mins. In addition to full flight-test instrumentation, it carried water ballast. A second flight was made on 4 May, and a third on 7 May, these flights being part of a 2,550 hour flight-test programme that involved some five development aircraft, including one for certification of the Engine Alliance GP7200 engine, this being a product of General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, being derived from the General Electric GE90 and Pratt & Whitney PW4090 engines. In the passenger role both the GP7200 and Trent 900 engines provided 70,000 lbst, and in the freight role 76,500 lbst. The second prototype (c/n 004) made its first flight at Toulouse on 18 October 2005; and the third (c/n 002) followed on 3 November 2005.

First of the series seen in this region was one of the prototypes (F-WWOW) painted in a hybrid Qantas livery, which arrived in Brisbane, QLD on Friday 11 November 2005, flying on to Sydney, NSW on 12 November and Melbourne, VIC on the 13th as part of Qantas’ 85th Birthday celebrations, the aircraft being in Airbus colours but with Qantas painted on the forward fuselage. After the visit the aircraft returned to France to continue the test programme.

First commercial service to Australia by an A380 was Singapore Airlines Flight SQ380 from Singapore to Sydney on 25 October 2007 operating A380-841 9V-SKA.

The first Qantas A380-842 VH-OQA (c/n 013) arrived in Sydney at 9 am on 21 September 2008, the second and third aircraft VH-OQB (c/n 015 ex F-WWSL)“Hudson Fysh’ and VH-OQC  (c/n 022 – ex F-WWSR) ‘Fergus McMaster’ arriving by Christmas 2008; and VH-OQD (c/n 026 – ex F-WWSR) ‘Paul McGinness’ arriving in February 2009.

The other eight A380-842s operated by Qantas have been: VH-OQE (c/n 027 – ex F-WWSX) ‘Lawrence Hargrave’; VH-OQF (c/n 029 – ex F-WWSA) ‘Sir Charles Kingsford Smith‘; VH-OQG (c/n 029 – ex F-WWAD) ‘Charles Ulm’; VH-OQH (c/n 050 – ex F-WWAE) ‘Reginald Ansett’; VH-OQI (c/n 55 – ex F-WWAP) ‘David Warren‘;VH-OQJ (c/n 62 – ex F-WWAQ) ‘Bert Hinkler’; VH-OQK (c/n 63 – ex F-WWSK) ‘John Duigan and Richard Duigan’; and VH-OQL (c/n 74 – ex G-WWSL) ‘Phyllis Arnott’.

Parts of the A380 were constructed in Sydney, the wingtips and wing fences of the first 100 aircraft being manufactured at the Boeing Hawker de Havilland facility at Bankstown, NSW these parts being supplied to Airbus UK at Broughton and to Airbus at Toulouse in France for installation on the new aircraft. In the event Qantas decided it would only obtain twelve A380s and the options were not taken up.

Emirates has the largest fleet of A380 aircraft. In January 2018 it announced it was ordering a further 20, with 16 on option, with some of the aircraft to replace earlier models. The engine to be installed was to be announced in due course. Previous aircraft delivered to the airline had either the Rolls Royce Trent 900 or the Engine Alliance GP72000.  At that time Emirates had 101 in service and another 41 on order, with the new order bringing the airline’s total fleet of the type to 178. By mid-2018 orders stood at 331 with 226 delivered.

However, in early 2019 the Airbus Chief Executive announced the Company’s decision to end production of the A380 in 2021 due to a lack of orders following Emirates choosing to cut back on the number on order, preferring to place orders for the Airbus A350 and the Airbus A330neo.

In mid 2020, due to the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic, Qantas withdrew its fleet of A380s and placed them in storage in Sydney, Melbourne and Los Angeles, a couple being flown to storage in the Mojave Desert in California.  The company stated the fleet would be grounded ‘for some time’.  It was expected when the type returned to service the six aircraft which had been upgraded with new business-class seats and in-flight lounges would be the first to return to service.

It is expected that Qantas A380s will be returned to service, but by early 2022 one aircraft was being broken up for spare parts.  A total of 254 was completed during its production run but a number have been broken up as it is more economical for the aielines to operate cheaper-to-operate twin engine aircraft.  The design of the aircraft and the small doors has precluded the conversion of the type for operation as a freighter.