AIRCRAFT
Airbus launched the A380 in December 2000 to complete its product line with this completely new very large airliner. The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage. This allows for a spacious cabin with 50% more floor space than the next largest airliner, the Boeing 747-400, and provides seating for 555 people in standard three-class configuration or up to 853 people in full economy class configuration. It is the largest passenger airliner in the world.
The other launch model, the freighter version, will be one of the largest cargo aircraft and will have a payload capacity exceeded only by the Antonov An-225, only three of which were produced. They were designed to transport the soon-to-be-abandoned Soviet space shuttle, the Buran.
The A380 breaks the 30-year monopoly in this market held by Boeing's original Jumbo, the 747. McDonnell Douglas pursued a similar strategy with its ultimately unsuccessful MD-12 design. As each manufacturer looked to build a successor to the 747, they knew there was room for only one new aircraft to be profitable in the 600- to 800-seat market segment. Each knew the risk of splitting such a niche market, as had been demonstrated by the simultaneous debut of the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10: either aircraft met the market's needs, but the market could profitably sustain only one model, eventually resulting in Lockheed's departure from the civil airliner business.
In January 1993, Boeing and several companies in the Airbus consortium started a joint feasibility study of an aircraft known as the Very Large Commercial Transport (VLCT), aiming to form a partnership to share the limited market.
In June 1994, Airbus began developing its own very large airliner, designated the A3XX. Airbus considered several designs, including a flying wing configuration, and an odd side-by-side combination of two fuselages from the A340, which was Airbus's largest jet at the time. The A3XX was pitted against the VLCT study and Boeing's own New Large Aircraft successor to the 747, which evolved into the 747X, a stretched version of the 747 with the forebody "hump" extended rearwards to accommodate more passengers. The joint VLCT effort ended in July 1996, and Boeing suspended the 747X program in January 1997, only to resurrect it several times before finally launching the 747-8 Intercontinental in November 2005.
Possibly the reason for Boeing's vacillation was the fact that their market forecast, in contrast with the Europeans' optimistic views, showed a demand for only 930 aircraft of 747-400 size and larger over the next 20 years. And within this category, more than half of the requirement, or approximately 565 aircraft, was for 400-500-seat aircraft, leaving a projected requirement for airplanes of 500 seats or more at only 365, most of them during the forecast's second decade.
From 1997 to 2000, as the East Asian financial crisis darkened the market outlook, Airbus refined its design, targeting a 15 to 20 percent reduction in operating costs over the existing Boeing 747-400. The A3XX design converged on a double-decker layout that provided higher seat capacities than a traditional single-deck design, and because of the significantly lighter structure required.
Airbus Large Aircraft Division and about 20 airlines, all of them ranked as potential customers, jointly formed working groups to regularly review the proposed VLTA's (Very Large Transport Aircraft) operational requirements, performance and technical definition. The group included Air Canada, Air France, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Cargolux, Emirates, Iberia, Japan Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air, Lufthansa German Airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airways and FedEx.
On December 19, 2000, the supervisory board of newly restructured Airbus voted to launch an 8.8 billion euro program to build the A3XX, re-christened as the A380, with 55 orders from six launch customers: Emirates (on July 24, 2000, they became the first airline to place a firm order), Air France, International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic.
Later, the following companies also ordered the aircraft: FedEx (the launch customer for the A380-800F freighter), Qatar Airways, Lufthansa, Korean Air, Malaysia Airlines, Etihad Airways, Thai Airways and UPS.
The A380 designation was a break from previous sequential Airbus designations because the numeral 8 resembles the double-deck cross section, and symbolizes good luck in some Asian cultures. Also it emphasizes the aircraft‚s huge size by distancing it from the A340.
The aircraft's final configuration was frozen in early 2001, and manufacturing of the first A380 wing box component started on January 23, 2002 at Nantes in France. In that year more than 6,000 people were working on the A380 development.
In the first few months of 2000, the consortium's member companies initiated negotiations with their four respective European governments in preparation for multiyear loan arrangements that could cover up to 33% of each company's share in the program. This would comply with the U.S.-European Union July 1992 agreement on commercial transport funding.
Key design aims included the ability to use existing airport infrastructure with little modifications to the airports, and direct operating costs per seat 15-20% less than those for the 747-400. With 49% more floor space and only 35% more seating than the previous largest aircraft, Airbus was ensuring wider seats and aisles for more passenger comfort. Using the most advanced technologies, the A380 is also designed to have 10-15% more range, lower fuel burn and emissions, and less noise.
The A380 features an advanced version of the Airbus common two-crew cockpit with pull-out keyboards for the pilots, extensive use of composite materials such as GLARE (an aluminum/glass fibre composite), and four 74,000 to 84,000 lb (330 to 374kN) Rolls-Royce Trent 900 turbofans, or four 76,500lb - 81,500 lb Engine Alliance (General Electric/Pratt & Whitney) GP7200 turbofans. The Rolls-Royce engine was certificated in October 2004, and the GP7200 was certificated by the European Aviation Safety Agency in December 2005 and made its first flight in August 2006.
The A340-inspired fly-by-wire flight controls and systems uses four independent power systems to actuate control surfaces. Two hydraulic systems are complemented by electro-hydrostatic actuators and electric backup hydraulic actuators, an electric ram air turbine, and electric motor pumps for ground use only.
The flight deck's design is a natural evolution of the A320/A340 concept. However, it includes new features such as larger and interactive flight displays, takeoff acceleration monitoring and engine thrust displays and a vertical situation awareness system.
In an initiative set to collect comments and preferences before freezing the cockpit's concept, 21 airline pilots reviewed Airbus' studies and "flew" Aérospatiale Matra's Epopee simulator. Although Epopee is not a full-flight simulator, it reproduces a broad range of A380 flight configurations. Epopee, which is complemented by a human factor interface demonstrator, was also used to validate the cockpit of the Airbus Military Co.'s proposed A400M military transport.
Although the A380 was designed to comply with an 80 x 80 meters (260 x 260 ft.) apron box so that it could operate at existing airport facilities, taxiing the aircraft requires a CCTV system.
Several A380 models are planned: the basic aircraft is the 555-seat A380-800. This model has a maximum takeoff weight of 540 tonnes, and can carry an 84 tonne payload 8000 nm (14,800 km), sufficient to fly from Chicago to Sydney nonstop. Cruising speed is Mach 0.85 (about 900 km/h or 560 mph at cruise altitude), similar to that of the Boeing 747.
The A380-800F freighter will have an increased maximum takeoff weight of 590 tonnes to enable the aircraft to carry up to 150 tonnes of freight over 5,725 nm (10,600 km). The launch customer was FedEx, but they canceled their order due to delivery delays.
Combi versions are also planned, and potential future models include a shortened, 480-seat A380-700, and a stretched, 656-seat A380-900. (The -700, -800, and -900 designations were chosen to reflect that the A380 will enter service as a "fully developed aircraft" and that the basic models will not be soon replaced by improved variants).
Apart from the prime contractors in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain, components for the A380 airframe are also manufactured by industrial partners in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. A380 final assembly is taking place in Toulouse, France, with interior fitment in Hamburg, Germany. Major A380 assemblies are transported to Toulouse by ship, barge and road.
On January 18, 2005, the first Airbus A380 prototype, serial number 001 and registration F-WWOW, was officially revealed in a lavish ceremony in Toulouse, attended by 5000 invited guests. These included the French, German, British and Spanish heads of state or government, representing the countries that invested heavily in the 10-year, 10 billion+ euro ($13 billion+) aircraft program, and the CEOs of the 14 A380 customers, who had by then placed firm orders for 149 aircraft.
The first flight took place at 10:29 a.m. local time, April 27, 2005. The prototype, equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, departed runway 32L of Toulouse Blagnac International Airport with a flight crew of six headed by test pilot Jacques Rosay. It was carrying 22 short tons (20 metric tons) of flight test instrumentation and water ballasts. The take-off weight of the aircraft was 421 tonnes (464 short tons); although this was only 75% of its maximum take-off weight, it was the heaviest take-off weight of any passenger airliner ever flown.
In mid-November 2005 the A380 embarked on a tour of Southeast Asia and Australia for promotional and for long-haul flight testing purposes, visiting Singapore, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur. During this tour, the colors of Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Malaysia Airlines were applied in addition to the Airbus house colors. On November 19, an A380 flew in full Emirates colors at the Dubai Air Show.
On January 10, 2006, the A380 made its first transatlantic flight to Medellin in Colombia, to test engine performance at a high altitude airport. It arrived in North America on February 6, landing in Iqaluit, Nunavut in Canada for cold-weather testing. The same aircraft then flew to Singapore to participate in the Asian Aerospace 2006 exhibition, in full Singapore Airlines livery.
On March 26, 2006, an A380 underwent evacuation certification in Hamburg in Germany. The test, performed to meet regulatory requirements, involved evacuating 853 passengers and 20 crew from the aircraft within 90 seconds, with 8 of the 16 exits blocked. The evacuation was successfully completed in 78 seconds. Three days later, the A380 received joint European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to carry up to 853 passengers, indicating that the evacuation trial had met their certification standards.
Five A380s have been built for testing and demonstration purposes. The first A380 slated for delivery to a customer, serial number 003 and registration F-WWSA, took to the air in May 2006. The maiden flight of the first A380 with GP7200 engines (F-WWEA) took place on August 25, 2006.
On September 4, 2006 the first full passenger-carrying flight test took place. The aircraft flew from Toulouse with 474 Airbus employees on board, in the first of a series of flights to test passenger facilities and comfort.
From October 30, 2006 until November 13, 2006, a further series of route-proving flights, covering 69,000 nm (128,000 km), took place to demonstrate the aircraft's performance for 150 flight hours under typical airline operating conditions.
During testing the A380 visited 18 countries, Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
The manufacturer's five test A380 aircraft, one powered by Engine Alliance GP7200s and four by Rolls-Royce Trent 900s, concluded their test programme in December 2006, after having logged over 2,300 hours during more than 730 test flights.
The aircraft received dual European Aviation Safety Agency and US Federal Aviation Administration certification on December 12, 2006.
Initial production of the A380 was plagued by a series of delays attributed to the 500 kilometers (310 miles) of wiring in each aircraft. Airbus cited as underlying causes the complexity of the cabin wiring, its concurrent design and production, the use of two incompatible versions of the CATIA computer-aided design software, the high degree of customization for each airline, and failures of configuration management (wiring in one section will not plug correctly into wiring in another). Over 80% of the wiring is supplied by Labinal, although this company has not been blamed for the delays. Deliveries will be pushed back by nearly two years.
Airbus announced the first delay in June 2005 and notified airlines that delivery would slip by six months, with Singapore Airlines receiving the first A380 in the last quarter of 2006, Qantas getting its first delivery in April 2007 and Emirates receiving aircraft before 2008. This reduced the number of planned deliveries by the end of 2009 from about 120 to 90-100.
On June 13, 2006 Airbus announced a second delay, with the delivery schedule undergoing an additional shift of six to seven months. Although the first delivery was still slated before the end of 2006, deliveries in 2007 would drop to only 9 aircraft, and deliveries by the end of 2009 would be cut to 70-80 aircraft. The announcement caused a 26% drop in the share price of Airbus's parent, EADS, and led to the departure of EADS CEO Noël Forgeard, Airbus CEO Gustav Humbert, and A380 program manager Charles Champion.
In the wake of the new delay, Malaysia Airlines and ILFC were reported to be considering the cancellation of their orders. Launch customers Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qantas also were reported to be angered by the delays and expecting compensation. However, on July 21, 2006 Singapore Airlines ordered a further 9 A380s and stated that Airbus had "demonstrated to our satisfaction that the engineering design for the A380 is sound [and that] it has performed well in flight and certification tests and the delays in its delivery have been caused more by production, rather than technical, issues."
On October 3, 2006, upon completion of a review of the A380 program, the new CEO of Airbus, Christian Streiff, announced a third delay. The largest delay yet, it pushed the first delivery for Singapore Airlines (a R-R Trent-powered aircraft) to October 2007, to be followed by 13 deliveries in 2008, 25 in 2009, and the full production rate of 45 aircraft per year in 2010. The delay also increased the earnings shortfall projected by Airbus through 2010 to 4.8 billion euros. The customer with the largest A380 order, Emirates, saw its first delivery pushed back to August 2008 and said as a result that it was considering scaling back its order, potentially in favor of the rival Boeing 747-8. Virgin Atlantic deferred its deliveries by four years, to 2013. Initial deliveries for the A380 freighter were delayed into 2010. The third delay was followed by the first cancellation to hit the A380 program, as FedEx dropped its order for ten A380F freighters in favor of 15 Boeing 777F freighters.
Singapore Airlines plans to use its first aircraft, in a 485-seat configuration, on its London-Singapore-Sydney (the kangaroo route) service. Subsequent routes for Singapore Airlines may include the Singapore-San Francisco route via Hong Kong, as well as direct flights to Paris and Frankfurt. Qantas has announced it will use the A380, in a 501-seat configuration, on its Melbourne and Sydney to Los Angeles routes. Air France's aircraft will be used on the Paris to Montreal and New York routes.
The new Airbus is sold in two models. The A380-800 can carry 555 passengers in a three-class configuration or up to 853 passengers in a single-class economy configuration. The range for the -800 model is 15,000 km (8,000 nm). The second model, the A380-800F freighter, will carry 150 tonnes of cargo 10,400 km (5,600 nm). Future variants may include an A380-900 stretch seating about 650 passengers, a shortened A380-700 seating about 455 passengers, and an extended range version with the same passenger capacity as the A380-800. The A380's wing is sized for a Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) over 650 metric tonnes in order to accommodate these future versions, albeit with some strengthening required. The stronger wing (and structure) is used on the A380-800F freighter. This common design approach sacrifices some fuel efficiency on the A380-800 passenger model, but the sheer size of the aircraft, coupled with the significant advances in technology described below, are still expected to provide lower operating costs per passenger than all current 747 variants.
Airbus used similar cockpit layout, procedures and handling characteristics to those of other Airbus aircraft, to reduce crew training costs. Accordingly, the A380 features an improved glass cockpit, and fly-by-wire flight controls linked to side-sticks. The improved cockpit displays feature eight 15x20 cm (6x8 in) liquid crystal displays, all of which are physically identical and interchangeable. These comprise two Primary Flight Displays, two navigation displays, one engine parameter display, one system display and two Multi-Function Displays. These MFDs are new with the A380, and provide an easy-to-use interface to the flight management system, replacing three multifunction control and display units. They include QWERTY keyboards and trackballs, interfacing with a graphical "point-and-click" display navigation system.
Either the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7200 turbofans power the A380. Both are derived from predecessors (Trent 800 and GE90) available on the Boeing 777. The Trent 900 is the scaled down version of the Trent 800, but incorporating the swept-back fan and counter-rotating spools of the stillborn Trent 8107. The GP7200 has a GE90-derived core and PW4090-derived fan and low-pressure turbo-machinery. Noise reduction was a driving requirement for the A380, and particularly affects engine design. Both engine types meet the stringent QC/2 departure noise limits set by London's Heathrow Airport, which is expected to become a key destination for the A380.
Composite materials make up 25% of the A380's airframe, by weight. Carbon-fiber reinforced plastic, glass-fiber reinforced plastic and quartz-fiber reinforced plastic are used extensively in wings, fuselage sections, tail surfaces, and doors. The A380 is the first commercial airliner with a central wing box made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic, and it is the first to have a wing cross-section that is smoothly contoured. Other commercial airliners have wings that are partitioned in sections. The flowing, continuous cross-section allows for maximum aerodynamic efficiency. Thermoplastics are used in the leading edges of the slats. The new material GLARE (GLAss-REinforced fiber metal laminate) is used in the upper fuselage and on the stabilizers' leading edges. This aluminum-glass-fiber laminate is lighter and has better corrosion and impact resistance than conventional aluminum alloys used in aviation. Unlike earlier composite materials, it can be repaired using conventional aluminum repair techniques.[25]
Newer weldable aluminum alloys are also used. This enables the widespread use of laser welding manufacturing techniques - eliminating rows of rivets and resulting in a lighter, stronger structure.
The A380 employs an Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) architecture, first used in advanced military aircraft such as the F-22 Raptor and the Eurofighter Typhoon. It is based on a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) design. Many previous dedicated single-purpose avionics computers are replaced by dedicated software housed in onboard processor modules and servers. This cuts the number of parts, provides increased flexibility without resorting to customized avionics, and reduces costs by using commercially available computing power.
Together with IMA, the A380 avionics are very highly networked. The data communication networks use Avionics Full-Duplex Switched Ethernet, following the ARINC 664 standard. The data networks are switched full-duplexed star-topology and based on 100baseTX fast-Ethernet. This reduces the amount of wiring required and minimizes latency.
The Network Systems Server (NSS) is the heart of the A380's paperless cockpit. It eliminates the bulky manuals and charts traditionally carried by the pilots. The NSS has enough inbuilt robustness to do away with onboard backup paper documents. The A380's network and server system stores data and offers electronic documentation, providing a required equipment list, navigation charts, performance calculations, and an aircraft logbook. All are accessible to the pilot from two additional 27 cm (11 in) diagonal LCDs, each controlled by its own keyboard and control cursor device mounted in the foldable table in front of each pilot.
Power-by-wire flight control actuators are used for the first time in civil service, backing up the primary hydraulic flight control actuators. During certain maneuvers, they augment the primary actuators. They have self-contained hydraulic and electrical power supplies. They are used as electro-hydrostatic actuators (EHA) in the aileron and elevator, and as electrical backup hydrostatic actuators (EBHA) for the rudder and some spoilers.
The aircraft's 350 bar (35 MPa or 5,000 psi) hydraulic system is an improvement over the typical 210 bar (21 MPa or 3,000 psi) system found in other commercial aircraft since the 1940s. First used in military aircraft, higher pressure hydraulics reduce the size of pipelines, actuators and other components for overall weight reduction. The 350 bar pressure is generated by eight de-clutchable hydraulic pumps. Pipelines are typically made from titanium and the system features both fuel and air-cooled heat exchangers. The hydraulics system architecture also differs significantly from other airliners. Self-contained electrically powered hydraulic power packs, instead of a secondary hydraulic system, are the backups for the primary systems. This saves weight and reduces maintenance.
The A380 uses four 150 kVA variable-frequency electrical generators eliminating the constant speed drives for better reliability. The A380 uses aluminum power cables instead of copper for greater weight savings due to the number of cables used for an aircraft of this size and complexity. The electrical power system is fully computerized and many contactors and breakers have been replaced by solid-state devices for better performance and increased reliability.
The A380 features a bulbless illumination system. LEDs are employed in the cabin, cockpit, cargo and other fuselage areas. The cabin lighting features programmable multi-spectral LEDs capable of creating a cabin ambience simulating daylight, night or shades in between. On the outside of the aircraft, HID lighting is used to give brighter, whiter and better quality illumination. These two bulbless technologies provide brightness and a service life superior to traditional incandescent light bulbs.
The A380 was initially planned without thrust reversers, as Airbus believed it to have ample braking capacity. The FAA disagreed, and Airbus elected to fit only the two inboard engines with them. The two outboard engines do not go into reverse, to reduce the amount of debris blown up during landing. The A380 features electrically actuated thrust reversers, giving them better reliability than their pneumatic or hydraulic equivalents, in addition to saving weight.
Passenger amenities
Initial publicity stressed the comfort and space of the A380's cabin, which offers room for such installations as relaxation areas, bars, duty-free shops, and beauty salons. One A380 customer likely to use innovative amenities is Virgin Atlantic Airways, which has a bar in Business Class on its aircraft, and has announced plans to include casinos, double beds, a gymnasium and showers on its A380s.
The A380 will expand the improvements that the 747 made (more seats and lower seat-distance costs) while providing wider seats and better amenities. At 555 passengers, the A380's seating capacity represents a 35% increase over the 747-400 in a standard three-class configuration, along with a nearly 50% larger cabin volume, producing more space per passenger. If, however, the plane is ordered in an all-economy-class configuration, it can hold up to 853 passengers, its maximum certified carrying capacity.
Airport compatibility
The A380 was designed to fit within an 80 x 80 m airport gate, and can land or take off on any runway that can take a Boeing 747. However, airports used by the A380 in commercial service may need infrastructure modifications. Its large wingspan can require some taxiway and apron reconfigurations in order to maintain safe separation margins when two of the aircraft pass each other. Taxiway shoulders may be required to be paved to reduce the likelihood of foreign object damage caused to (or by) the outboard engines, which overhang more than 25 m (80 ft) from the center line of the aircraft. Any taxiway or runway bridge must be capable of supporting the A380's maximum weight. The terminal gate must be sized such that the A380's wings do not block adjacent gates, and may also provide multiple jetway bridges for simultaneous boarding on both decks. Service vehicles with lifts capable of reaching the upper deck must be obtained, as well as tractors capable of handling the A380's maximum ramp weight.
The A380 test aircraft have begun a campaign of airport compatibility testing, to verify the modifications already made at several large airports. To date, airports have been visited for compatibility testing in Bangkok, Brisbane, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London, Melbourne, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Dusseldorf and Vancouver.
Production
Major structural sections of the A380 are built in France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Due to their size, they are brought to the assembly hall in Toulouse in France by surface transportation, rather than by the Beluga aircraft used for other Airbus models. Components of the A380 are provided by suppliers from around the world; the five largest contributors, by value, are Rolls-Royce, SAFRAN, United Technologies, General Electric, and Goodrich.
The front and rear sections of the fuselage are loaded on an Airbus RORO ship, "Ville de Bordeaux," in Hamburg in northern Germany, whence the ship sails to the United Kingdom. The 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 its cargo. In Saint-Nazaire in 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 from Construcciones Aeronauticas SA in Cadiz in southern Spain, and delivers them to Bordeaux. From there, the A380 parts are transported by barge to Langon, and by oversize road convoys to the assembly hall in Toulouse. New wider roads, canal systems and barges were developed to deliver the A380 parts. After assembly, the aircraft are flown to Hamburg to be furnished and painted. Airbus sized the production facilities and supply chain for a production rate of four A380s per month.
Recent News
Some of the most extensive media coverage of the A380 occurred as a result of a promotional media flight from Toulouse in February 2007.
In March 2007, the A380 made its United States debut as two aircraft landed within minutes of each other at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Los Angeles International Airport. The New York stopover was part of a 12-day route proving trip, while the Los Angeles visit was used for airport compatibility and functional checks.
With the distinctive blue and gold logo and the name "Singapore Airlines" across 33 meters of the aircraft fuselage, the world's first customer A380 rolled out of the paint hangar in Hamburg, Germany, on 2nd May 2007. About 3,600 liters of chromate-free paint is used for three layers of paint (primer, customer-paint, top-coat) for an A380. Only 600 to 1,000 kg of paint stays on the aircraft. Each layer measures only about 0.120 mm and is able to withstand differences in temperatures of about 100 degrees Celsius.For its first visit to India, the A380 landed in New Delhi on Sunday May 6, 2007, after a nine-hour flight from Toulouse. The aircraft stayed for two days in New Delhi before flying to Mumbai, headquarters of its first Indian customer, Kingfisher Airlines. The aircraft was in India to perform demonstration flights and to help celebrate the second anniversary of Kingfisher, which has five A380s on order.
The A380 will be embarking on a visit to the Asia-Pacific region as part of a series of demonstration tours that will take place during 2007. The Asia-Pacific tour will take the A380 development aircraft MSN7 to Narita (Japan) from 4th - 6th June, then to Sydney (Australia) from 6th - 8th June and finally to Taipei (Taiwan) from 8th - 10th June, after having made a series of airport compatibility trials at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport from 1st - 3rd June jointly with Air France and Aéroports de Paris.
As of April 2007, orders for the A380 stood at 156. Airbus expects to sell a total of 750 aircraft, and estimates break-even at 420 units, increased from 270 due to delivery delays and the falling exchange rate of the US dollar. Industry analysts anticipate between 400 and 880 sales by 2025. As of 2006, the unit cost of the A380 is US$ 296 to 316 million, depending on equipment installed.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 1996-2007 Pyramid Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Online | Magazines | Newsletters | Business & Prof | Books & eBooks
Advertising | Marketing | Content | Info Services | Links
Subscriptions | Order Center | Contact Us | Home
Copyright © 1996-2007 Pyramid Media Group | Liability | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service