Airbus A380

Airbus A380
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380
Role	Wide-Body Double-Deck Jet airliner
National origin	Multi-country origin
Manufacturer	Airbus
First flight	27 April 2005
Introduction	25 October 2007
Status	No longer produced but used by airlines
Primary users	Singapore Airlines Emirates Qantas Lufthansa
Produced	2004-2021
Number built	254 (March 2021)
Unit cost	US$350M

The Airbus A380 (also called "Super-jumbo-jet") is a four-engined, double-decked airliner manufactured by Airbus. It is the world's biggest passenger airplane, larger than the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet.

The Airbus A380 can carry up to 850 passengers (but it usually carries about 525), and weighs over 550 tonnes. It has four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines or four Engine Alliance GP7000 engines. The companies General Electric and Pratt & Whitney make alliance engines. The last A380 was produced in 2021 and delivered to Emirates.

Orders

Hundreds of A380-800 airplanes have been ordered by 20 airlines. One has been ordered by a Saudi Arabian Prince, Al-Walid bin Talal and 10 by a company called ILFC (who gives other airlines airplanes for rent).

Emirates Airlines (an airline from the United Arab Emirates) has the most A380 aircraft, because they have ordered 123 aircraft. Singapore Airlines took delivery of the first A380, which flew to Sydney in Australia on October 25, 2007. Singapore Airlines has 19 A380s.

Other airlines which ordered the A380 are:

• Qantas (from Australia, currently operating 12)
• Air France (formerly operated 10)
• China Southern Airlines
• Lufthansa (the German airline, which has 8)
• Kingfisher Airlines (from India)
• Korean Air (from South Korea)
• Thai Airways

  

• Malaysia Airlines
• British Airways
• Qatar Airways
• Etihad Airways (from the United Arab Emirates)
• Virgin Atlantic (from the United Kingdom)
• Air Austral (France).

More than 200 A380 have been delivered, including 15 in 2017 and 12 in 2018.

Freighter Version

Airbus was going to make a version of the A380 to carry cargo instead of people. This would look almost the same as the normal passenger version, but with no windows and much bigger doors. Some cargo companies ordered the plane, like FedEx and UPS. Because Airbus took too long to make the A380 freight version, those orders were canceled. Because Airbus has not gotten any orders for the plane anymore, they decided to not make the freighter version for a while and focus on making the passenger version of the A380.

Incidents

The Airbus A380 had 2 incidents, with no deaths.

• On 4 November 2010, Qantas Flight 32 was flying from Singapore Changi Airport when the number 2 engine failed, causing some damage to the plane, and forcing it to return to Singapore. Nobody was injured, but debris from the airplane fell onto the island of Batam, in Indonesia. Investigations found that the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine leaked oil, causing an explosion. Other Trent 900 engines had similar problems and many engines had to be replaced and the FAA issued that all Airbus A380s currently in service are required to go under mandatory inspections before takeoff to prevent future engine problems.
• On 30 September 2017, Air France Flight 66 was flying to Los Angeles International Airport when the number 4 engine failed, destroying it and forcing the A380 to land at Goose Bay, Canada. Nobody was injured. Investigators found that the failure of the Engine Alliance GP7000 engine was caused by a crack in the fan hub. The FAA issued that all Airbus A380s with that type of engine would have to have their fan hubs inspected.

References

Other websites

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Airbus A380.

• Airbus A380 website Archived 2007-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
• Proper A380 website Archived 2020-12-18 at the Wayback Machine