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The world's largest passenger jet took flight for the first time 18 years ago. See the full history of the Airbus A380 superjumbo from marvel to reject.
The Airbus A380 is the largest passenger airliner in the world, taking its first-ever flight on April 27, 2005.
The European manufacturer wanted to create its own version of the popular Boeing 747 jumbo jet.
Despite early success, Airbus stopped production of the plane at the end of 2021 due to low demand from carriers.
The iconic Airbus A380 double-decker jet is the world's largest passenger plane. It flew for the first time ever on April 27, 2005 with six people onboard.
The six people were A380 captains Claude Lelaie and Jacques Rosay, and Airbus engineers Fernando Alonso, Jacky Joyce, Manfred Birnfeld, and Gerard, Desbois.
The three-hour and 54-minute flight over France was the first in a series of test flights, with captain Jacques Rosay praising the jet's performance: "Within the first minutes of the flight, we were struck by the aircraft's ease of handling."
Airbus A380 pilot Jacques Rosay sitting in the plane's cockpit at Le Bourget Airport near Paris on June 12, 2005.
When the jet finally hit the market in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines, it was supposed to be a revolutionary addition to the aviation industry.
An Emirates Airbus A380.
Arnold Aaron/Shutterstock.com
However, the plane's inefficient design and high operating costs forced airlines around the world to abandon the jet in favor of smaller, two-engine widebodies, like the Airbus A350 and the upcoming Boeing 777X.
Boeing 777X at the Farnborough Air Show in England in July 2022.
While there are a few global carriers that still operate the A380 — like its biggest customer Emirates — carrier loyalty has faded. Here is the full history of the superjumbo, from marvel to reject.
Emirates CEO Tim Clark at 100th A380 delivery.
During the 1970s, Airbus' A300B was the new kid in the world of commercial airliners.
Airbus
It spent the decade trying to break into a market dominated by the Boeing 747 jumbo jet, which had an incredible size, performance, and efficiency that lowered operating costs to make air travel accessible for the masses.
First Boeing 747
-/Getty Images
No longer was air travel reserved for the rich and famous, and, in fact, the Boeing 747 had the lowest seat-mile cost in the industry at the time. But, Airbus was starting to catch up.
Lufthansa Boeing 747-8i economy. Airlines can fit 10-abreast rows on the plane.
By the early 1990s, Airbus was in a much different position. Its narrow-body A320 family, which helped pioneer civilian fly-by-wire technology, was well on its way to becoming the second-best-selling jetliner in history.
The best-selling airliner in history is the Boeing 737.
Airbus
At the same time, the company unveiled its new A330...
Reuters/Jean Philippe Arles
...and A340 family widebody jets. The two aircraft offered viable alternatives to Boeing's 767 and 777 widebodies. But Airbus has set its sights on a bigger target: Boeing 747-400.
AP
Airbus' goal was to produce an aircraft even bigger than Boeing's latest jumbo jet — with lower operating costs.
Boeing
The result was a double-decker concept called the A3XX.
Airbus/AP
The A3XX would eventually morph into the A380 superjumbo.
An Airbus A380.
A. Doumenjou/Airbus
Before Airbus ended its production in November 2021, the A380 was built in a 1.6-million-square-foot assembly plant at Airbus' headquarters in Toulouse, France.
Reuters/Jean Philippe Arles
At 239 feet long, 79 feet tall, and 262 feet from wingtip to wingtip, it's a big plane.
REUTERS/Kieran Doherty
Only the Boeing 747-8 is longer, at 250 feet and two inches — but the A380 can carry many more passengers.
Boeing
According to Airbus, in a typical four-class seating arrangement, the superjumbo can carry as many as 544 passengers, with a range of more than 9,400 miles.
REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz
In a high-density configuration, the A380 is certified to carry as many as 853 passengers. No airline ever opted for this layout, though French carrier Air Austral almost went through with the idea in 2009.
Singapore Airlines' A380 economy cabin.
Power for the A380 comes from a quartet of engines from suppliers Rolls-Royce and Engine Alliance.
Hollis Johnson
The A380's flight crew operates from a state-of-the-art glass cockpit. Like all modern Airbus jets, the aircraft is flown using a side stick, with a fly-by-wire control system.
Reuters / Nir Elias
As an airliner, the A380 promised luxury and comfort on an unprecedented scale.
Hollis Johnson
And, the Airbus jumbo delivered, at least to airlines that wanted to take advantage of luxurious options. Premium features, such as walk-up bars...
REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
...private lounges...
Hollis Johnson
...and bathrooms with showers set the A380 apart from its rivals.
Emirates
And then there are the beautiful first-class suites from carriers like Emirates...
The UAE-based carrier's "The Residence" suite is essentially a 125-square-foot flying home, and it is returning to the skies in summer 2023 following a post-pandemic increase in demand.
Etihad initially said it would be retiring the A380 during the pandemic.
Despite a few years of success, the plane's popularity started to fall as the decade went on, especially as Airbus was reluctant to invest the kind of money needed to develop a new version of the A380.
Airbus
In 2017, Airbus did offer its customers a moderately updated version of the jet, called the "A380plus," with room for 80 more people and new winglets for better fuel economy. But, it never made it to production.
Airbus A380plus.
While many carriers lost their love for the A380, one airline has never wavered — Dubai-based Emirates, which accounts for 118 of the 274 total A380s ordered by airlines.
Emirates CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum and former Airbus CEO Tom Enders.
Emirates
Emirates is a predominantly long-haul international airline. Its business is built around funneling millions of passengers through its palatial central hub in Dubai and then on to destinations around the world.
REUTERS/Jumana El Heloueh
As a result, Emirates needs an aircraft that can carry a lot of passengers for very long distances — a perfect job for the A380.
REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz
But few airlines use Emirates' strategy. These days, the trend in the industry is to offer direct flights using smaller long-range aircraft — especially as travelers prefer nonstop routes rather than having a layover in a hub city.
REUTERS/Phil Noble
Because of the industry shift, most airlines have moved towards point-to-point flying. This has allowed smaller, more efficient twinjets like the Boeing 777...
Boeing
...and the Airbus A330 to become the dominant forces in long-haul flying.
Hawaiian Airlines
Other next-generation composite widebodies like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner offer airlines more flexibility and less risk. According to Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, it costs less to operate two Dreamliners than it does to fly a single A380.
Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider
However, there was once a glimmer of hope for the A380 project thanks to Emirates, which ordered 20 additional jumbos in January 2018 that would have kept the production line moving for the next decade.
Airbus
But, that deal fell apart. In the end, even the A380's most loyal customer couldn't hold on any longer, with Emirates cutting 39 A380s from its original order of 162 planes and opting for smaller twin-engine Airbus A330neos and A350s instead.
Emirates A330.
InsectWorld/Shutterstock
As a result, the A380 never developed into a true workhorse like the 747. Instead, it has been relegated to a niche aircraft economically feasible only on routes with heavy airport congestion.
Qantas
In 2017, Singapore Airlines became the first airline to retire an A380, the first of five to be taken out of service. Many were scrapped, with one going to Portuguese charter company Hi-Fly.
HiFly Press Kit
In November 2019, Air France became the second. The airline quietly took the plane out of service after a flight from Johannesburg to Paris despite the airline previously announcing it would retire its 10 A380s by 2022.
DANIEL SLIM/AFP/Getty Images
Through March and April 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic led to sharply reduced travel demand all around the world, numerous airlines grounded their A380 fleets.
AP/Airbus, C. Brinkmann
However, not all airlines were ready to say goodbye to the iconic double-decker just yet. China Southern only briefly grounded the jet between February 10 and March 24, 2020, according to Cirium data, and has continued to fly them.
Meanwhile, Emirates unsurprisingly relaunched the jet early in the pandemic, flying it from London to Paris in July 2020.
An Emirates Airbus A380 and an American Airlines A321.
Philip Pilosian / Shutterstock.com
About a year and a half later, the Dubai-based operator received the last-ever A380 to be produced, marking a significant milestone for the airline.
The final Airbus A380 bound for Emirates.
Airbus-Lutz Borck
The final A380s have a 4-cabin configuration with Emirates' sophisticated Premium Economy section, complete with wide, spacious seats, a leg rest, and greater recline.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy
Emirates
In addition to China Southern and Emirates, Korean Air has also decided to unretire the double-decker jet, flying it for the first time since the pandemic from Seoul to New York-JFK on June 27.
...followed by Singapore Airlines, which relaunched the plane in November 2021...
An Airbus A380-841 airplane of Singapore Airlines takes-off from Zurich airport
...Qantas in January 2022, with CEO Alan calling the A380 the "perfect vehicle" for high-demand cities like Heathrow and Los Angeles...
A Qantas Airbus A380.
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