Airbus A380

In the early nineties, Airbus began studies of market potential for a 500 seat aircraft and in June 1994, began development of such an aircraft, designated A3XX.
Airbus began marketing the aircraft and Emirates was the first airline to commit to the programme on July 24, 2000, followed by Air France, International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic.
Upon receiving the 50th firm order commitment in December 2000, Airbus gave the A3XX programme the go-ahead, redesignating it as the A380.
An extensive 14 month test flight programme is expected to start in early 2005, on completion of which first deliveries will commence to Singapore Airlines.

It has taken 11 years to go from drawing board to first flight, and has required massive government loans to fund the £8 billion project.

The Airbus philosophy of offering every conceivable option to a customer required them to develop an aircraft to round out the Airbus stable. Airbus also desired to end Boeing’s dominance and to outdo their main rival.

The A380, the world's only twin-deck four-aisle airliner. Due to enter service in 2006, it is the most advanced, spacious and efficient airliner yet produced. The baseline A380-100 will carry 555 passengers, compared with 400 on Boeing's 747. This vastly increases capacity in the airline industry, despite current constraints on landing slots and congestion at major international hubs such as Tokyo, New York and London. Indeed, one of Airbus’ key design features was that the new aircraft should operate within existing airport infrastructure or require minimal modifications.

Dubai-based airline Emirates is by far the largest customer of the new Airbus A380 superjumbo. While fourteen other airlines, including Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and Korea Air, have also placed orders for the massive new aircraft, with 45 planes on order, Emirates currently accounts for a full third of sales.

The A380 has more floor space than the Boeing 747 prompting Airbus to promote passenger amenities such as on-board hotels and theatres, bars, gymnasiums, Jacuzzi’s, hair & beauty salons, and duty free shops.

The A380 will be the first long-haul aircraft to consume less than three litres of fuel per passenger over 100 km, a rate comparable to an economical family car.
The wingspan of the A380 is so large you could park 70 cars on it!

The A380 Family starts from a baseline passenger aircraft with a capacity of 555 passengers in three classes, and a range of up to 15,000 km./8,000 nm.
Variants will include the extended-range -100ER, a 656-seat stretched -200, and a shortened 480-seat A380-50, as and when the market requires them.
A freighter version, the A380F, will carry a payload of 150 tonnes (330,000 lbs) over 10,400 km (5,600nm). The A380 can be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines or GP7200 engines from the Engine Alliance (a General Electric and Pratt & Whitney joint venture).