The Rise And Fall Of The Airbus A380.
The A380 is out of production but still well in use.
The Airbus A380 has had a fascinating history since its launch in 2005. With a higher capacity than any other aircraft, it offered new opportunities for many airlines. There have been operating and cost challenges, though, which have led to concerns and retirements.
Despite its challenges, the A380 remains a great aircraft and an impressive engineering achievement. We are unlikely to see anything this size again in the commercial market for some time.
This article takes a look back at the history of the Airbus A380 to date. We focus on the concept, development, and potential of the aircraft and how it has worked well for some airlines but not so well for others.
The concept of the A380 goes back to the 1970s and the Boeing 747. The iconic Jumbo Jet was a great success for Boeing (and was its highest-selling widebody until the Boeing 777 took over in 2018).
Airbus was formed in 1970, with several European manufacturers coming together to compete against the larger US companies. Its initial A300 (competing with the Boeing 707) sold well, and Airbus launched the dual A330/A340 program in 1986.
Airbus looked at several different concepts, eventually settling on a full two-deck, known at the start as the A3XX. Interestingly, Boeing had also looked at this concept for the 747 but failed to make it work for emergency exit and evacuation requirements.
The A380 was not just designed to be bigger than the 747. Airbus believed in the idea of creating high-capacity aircraft for hub-based travel.
We know now that this was not the best strategy. Boeing, at the time, was moving forward with the lower capacity 777, an aircraft that would appeal much more for point-to-point operations.
However, Airbus was not alone in thinking that high-capacity aircraft would be popular. Several other manufacturers looked at such development around the same time, including:
McDonnell Douglas launched a two-deck proposal, the MD-12, in 1992. Despite interest from airlines, there were no orders.
The A380 is the largest commercial aircraft ever built
With the launch of the A380, Airbus succeeded where several other manufacturers had failed and built the largest commercial aircraft to date.
We can't discuss the success of the A380 without talking about Emirates. It accounts for 123 out of the 251 aircraft ordered and relies on a fleet of just these and the Boeing 777.
An A380 stretched version. At launch, Airbus proposed the A380-200, seating around an extra 100 passengers. Again, in 2007, it proposed a similar-sized A380-900.
Despite 251 orders, the overall project never made a profit. The development cost of €25 billion ($29.7 billion) was more than twice the original development estimate. One positive is that the volume was high enough that by the end, it was producing each aircraft higher than cost. Bloomberg reported in an analysis of the A380 in 2015:
"One modest success that Airbus aims to celebrate this year is that it no longer produces each A380 at a loss, though the company admits the overall program itself will never recoup its $25 billion investment."
Move away from hub-based operations. The A380 was designed for hub and spoke operations. Airbus bet big on this working, but there has been more of a shift in preference to point-to-point operations. And with this, a lower-capacity aircraft makes more sense. US airlines are a good example of this - no US airline ordered the A380.
Limitations in operation. The aircraft is placed in the highest size category, and as such, there are many airports where it cannot operate. This was a major consideration in Boeing’s development of the 777X. It has folding wing-tips to ensure it is categorized lower than the A380 and can access more airports.
Failure of the freighter version. The failure of the freighter version was potentially a big setback for the A380. Boeing dominates the freighter market, and the A380 could have worked well for Airbus. The freighter received 27 orders but was never developed.
Many airlines grounded fleets during the pandemic, and for some time, its future was quite uncertain. Flights dropped to almost nothing at the height of the shutdowns, although there were some attempts to keep aircraft flying in freight use.
We will likely still see it in service for some time to come. Many aircraft remain young, and many operators are seeing the benefits again of a large wide body. Emirates has already confirmed that it expects the A380 to remain in service until the 2040s.
Cargo conversion. As the freighter version's failure showed, the A380 airframe has limitations for freight use. But it remains a high-capacity aircraft, and this is possible. We have seen this done by Hi Fly in 2020, and it could be an option for another operator.
Source: bit.ly/3TSahPS
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17 сен 2024
