Airbus A380
| Airbus A380 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| An Air France A380-800 landing at Los Angeles International Airport | |
| Role | Wide-body, double-deck jet airliner |
| National origin | Multi-national |
| Manufacturer | Airbus |
| First flight | 27 April 2005 |
| Introduction | 25 October 2007 with Singapore Airlines |
| Status | In service |
| Primary users |
Emirates Singapore Airlines Lufthansa Qantas |
| Produced | 2005–present |
| Number built | 207 as of 31 December 2016[update] |
| Unit cost |
US$436.9 million (2017)
|
| Airbus A380-800 cutaway | |
 Airbus A380-800 cutaway from Flightglobal.com
|
The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by European Union manufacturer Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner, and the airports at which it operates have upgraded facilities to accommodate it. It was initially named Airbus A3XX and designed to challenge Boeing's monopoly in the large-aircraft market. The A380 made its first flight on 27 April 2005 and entered commercial service in 25 October 2007 with Singapore Airlines.
The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage, with a width equivalent to a wide-body aircraft. This gives the A380-800's cabin 550 square metres (5,920 sq ft) of usable floor space, 40% more than the next largest airliner, the Boeing 747-8, and provides seating for 525 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 853 people in an all-economy class configuration. The A380-800 has a design range of 8,500 nautical miles (15,700 km), serving the two longest non-stop scheduled flights (as of March 2016) in the world, and a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 (about 900 km/h, 560 mph or 490 kt at cruising altitude).
As of December 2016[update], Airbus had received 319 firm orders and delivered 207 aircraft; Emirates is the biggest A380 customer with 142 ordered of which 92 have been delivered.
In mid-1988, Airbus engineers led by Jean Roeder began work in secret on the development of an ultra-high-capacity airliner (UHCA), both to complete its own range of products and to break the dominance that Boeing had enjoyed in this market segment since the early 1970s with its 747.McDonnell Douglas unsuccessfully offered its smaller, double-deck MD-12 concept for sale. Roeder was given approval for further evaluations of the UHCA after a formal presentation to the President and CEO in June 1990. The megaproject was announced at the 1990 Farnborough Air Show, with the stated goal of 15% lower operating costs than the 747-400. Airbus organised four teams of designers, one from each of its partners (Aérospatiale, British Aerospace, Deutsche Aerospace AG, CASA) to propose new technologies for its future aircraft designs. The designs were presented in 1992 and the most competitive designs were used.
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