The Airbus A380 is a doubledecker, four-engined airliner manufactured by Airbus S.A.S. It first flew on April 27, 2005 from Toulouse, France. Commercial flights should begin in 2006 after 15 months of testing. During much of ist development, the aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX. The A380 is now the largest passenger airliner, topping the Boeing 747, which was the largest for 35 years. However, the Antonov An-225 retains the record of being the world's largest commercial aircraft.
The media has termed the A380 a "superjumbo", with some comparing it to Howard Hughes's Spruce Goose. The first A380 prototype was unveiled during a ceremony in Toulouse, France, on January 18, 2005. Its manufacturer's serial number is 001, and is registered as F-WWOW. The new Airbus will initially be sold in two versions: the A380-800, carrying 555 passengers in a three-class configuration or up to 800 passengers in a single-class economy configuration. Expected range for the -800 model is 8,000 nautical miles (14,800 km). The second model, the A380-800F dedicated freighter, will carry 150 tons of cargo 5,600 miles (10,400 km). Airbus made the cockpit layout, procedures and handling characteristics similar to those of other Airbus aircraft to reduce crew training costs. Likewise, the A380 features a glass cockpit and side-stick flight controller.
Either the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7200 turbofan engines may power the A380. The Rolls-Royce Trent, the launch engine, initially gained most sales. However, the Engine Alliance GP7201 sales grew, now roughly matching those of the Trent 900. Initial publicity has stressed the A380's space and comfort, allowing for relaxation areas, bars, duty free shops and the like.
The only A380 customer likely to do so is Virgin Atlantic, which has a bar in Business Class on most of its newer airliners and announced plans to include casinos on their A380s. Similar items were proposed in the past when large aircraft were announced, but airlines have always opted for more seats to lower ticket costs. Given the history of the airline industry, the A380 will only expand the improvements that the 747 made more seats and lower seat-distance costs. With 555 passengers, the A380 represents a 35 percent increase over the 747-400 in standard three-class configuration, along with a nearly 50% larger cabin volume. Some airports have planned terminal reconfigurations to facilitate loading and unloading from the A380's double decker design.
Airbus operates 16 manufacturing sites across Europe, most of which produce parts for the new A380 airliner. First, the front and rear sections of the fuselage are loaded on an Airbus RORO ship, Ville de Bordeaux, in Hamburg, northern Germany, whence they are shipped to the United Kingdom. There the huge wings, which are manufactured at Filton in Bristol and Broughton in north Wales, are transported by barge to Mostyn docks, where the ship adds them to ist cargo.
In Saint-Nazaire, western France, the ship trades the fuselage sections from Hamburg for larger, assembled sections, some of which include the nose. The ship unloads in Bordeaux. Afterwards, the ship picks up the belly and tail sections in Cadiz, southern Spain, and delivers them to Bordeaux. From there, the A380 parts are transported by barge to Langon, and by road to an assembly hall in Toulouse. New wider roads, extra canal
systems and barges were developed to deliver the massive A380 parts. After assembly, the aircraft are flown to Hamburg to be furnished and painted. Final assembly began in 2004, with first aircraft (MSN001) displayed in January 2005. Before starting the A380 project, both Airbus and Boeing had focused on cornering the very-large-airliner market. Airbus and Boeing had worked together on a study investigating a 600+ seat aircraft called the Very.
