- Welcome back to my new video.
The Airbus A380 is the world's largest aeroplane,
and the most expensive one as well.
Last week Airbus announced that
it would stop production of the A380 by 2021.
So, what went wrong?
In just 10 years this aeroplane has fallen
from being an airline status symbol to being a reject.
Let's find out about, in this video,
the rise and fall of the Airbus A380.
Airbus has spent a decade trying
to break into a market dominated by the Boeing 747.
They had set its sights on bigger targets.
Airbus wanted to introduce an aircraft even bigger
than the Boeing 747 with lower operating costs.
The result was a double-decker concept called the A3XX,
which was eventually called the A380.
The A380 was launched in December 2000.
The super jumbo has now been in service
for more than a decade.
An A380 takes off or lands
around the world every two minutes.
Today the A380 fleets make over 300 flights per day
operating on more than 120 routes,
and 60 destinations by 14 airlines.
Since its entry into service
the A380 has carried almost 250 million passengers.
The first A380 flight took place
in Toulouse on 27 April, 2005.
People from all over the world came to Toulouse.
Well, I was one of 'em too.
It was a day that I will never forget in my life.
At 10:29 a.m. the first A380 prototype opened up
the throttles of its four massive turbofan engines.
As the super-jumbo took off
from the Airbus facility in Toulouse, France,
the largest commercial airliner around was actually flying.
Seeing is believing.
The A380 entered into commercial service
with Singapore Airlines on 25 October 2007
from Singapore to Sydney.
I was one of the lucky few who flew on the inaugural return flight
from Sydney to Singapore on the next day
in the new Singapore Airline suites.
At 239 feet long, 79 feet tall,
and 262 feet from wingtip to wingtip, it is a big aeroplane.
Only the Boeing 747-8 is longer at 250 feet and two inches.
The A380's flight crew
operate from a state of the art glass cockpit.
The aircraft is flown using a side-stick
with a fly-by-wire control system.
This is a table, and one more flip is the keyboard.
Engine power is here, the radio is here,
and speed brake, flaps,
- Parking brake, this one. - Parking brake.
Each A380 consists of around 4 million individual components.
The aircraft has 220 windows and 16 doors.
During the takeoff,
the wing will flex upwards by over 4 metres.
Guys I'm just on the platform.
We've reached the maximum height in this hanger,
and it goes to about the same level as the 380 tail,
it's about 75, 80 metres tall.
And it gives you a bird's eye view of the A380 underneath.
This is the best view to look at a 380; to look down on it.
What a marvellous piece of engineering, really,
for such a large aeroplane to exist and to fly in the sky today.
That's the camera, that's the tail camera.
Oh that's the secret.
So crazy, yes, to touch that.
As an airliner, the A380 promised luxury and comfort
on an unprecedented scale.
The airbus delivered premium features
such as walk-up bars, lounges and bathrooms with showers
which set this super-jumbo jet apart from it's rivals.
There are first class suites.
(gentle music)
And then the even larger first class suite.
(gentle music)
And then there's the Etihad Residence,
a 125 square foot home in the sky.
Passengers love the comfort and the quietness of the A380.
Even the economy class is very comfortable.
I think very few aeroplanes have achieved this status.
And I also know that there are many people who go out of their way
to book on to an A380 flight to ensure that comfort.
14 Airlines operate A380 currently.
Air France, Asiana, British Airways, China Southern,
Emirates, Etihad, Korean Air, Hi Fly, Lufthansa,
Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways,
Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways.
Portugal's Hi Fly became the first airline
to offer a second hand A380,
when it took delivery of an ex Singapore Airlines jet
in the summer of 2018.
Japan's All Nippon Airways will soon begin
commercial service with it's first A380 in 2019.
- The success of the A380
first is derived from the passenger experience.
The A380 offers the most comfortable cabin
in the industry today.
One benefit often overlooked
when having an A380 in your network,
is the effect that it has on the connecting traffic.
This means, not only, that you stimulate traffic demand
from other origin and destination pairs.
But also, you can improve the yields
of those connecting flights.
When you're travelling long haul, say Trans-Pacific,
there are only so many time slots in a day
that you would wanna take off
when you consider what time you would arrive in the morning.
So from a pure passenger preference,
there are peak hours of when you want to travel.
The A380 offers the solution
through picking up the most capacity on these peak hours,
and thus bringing in the most revenue for the airline.
- But no customer is more important than Emirates,
which ordered almost half of all the A380's ordered.
But why does Emirates love the A380 so much
at a time when other airlines are staying away
from the super-jumbo jet?
Emirates is a predominantly long-haul international airline,
whose business is built around funnelling
millions of passengers through its hub in Dubai and
then on to their destinations around the world.
As a result, Emirates needs an aircraft
that can carry lots of passengers for very long distances.
A perfect job for the A380.
- We believe that this aircraft
will be the most suitable aircraft for us, and Emirate.
And that's why we went and signed up for a total order of 142.
We needed the A380 for our operation as our hub
in Dubai grew rapidly.
We have been able to use the aircraft at the slot
constrained airports like Heathrow, JFK, and also at airports
where we have full passenger demands, such as Manchester,
Dusseldorf, Prague, and also to Mauritius.
- And on behalf of my colleagues at Airbus,
let me finish by offering congratulations
to your highness Sheikh Ahmed, Tim, everybody at Emirates
on your 100th A380, thank you all.
- I thank all the team who have been working from Emirate
and Airbus all over those years
to bring such a beautiful aircraft to this industry.
Thank you.
(upbeat music)
- (Narrator) But few airlines
use the Emirates strategy.
These days the trend in the industry
is to offer direct flights using smaller,
long range aircraft, point to point.
Instead of Emirates's dedicated hub and spoke routes model,
most airlines have moved towards
more point to point flying, using the ultra modern 787 or A350.
Smaller, next generation, composite Y bodies like
the 787 Dreamliner offer airlines more flexibility
and less risk.
According to the CEO of Qantas, Alan Joyce,
it costs less to operate two 787 Dreamliners
than it does to fly a single A380.
The A380 super jumbo hasn't been the game changer
Airbus hoped it would be when the idea was conceived
just two decades ago.
This is especially the case on the financial front.
I have flown on the A380 with less than 100 passengers
on board several times during the low season.
Who needs business class when you have the whole row -
ten seats - all to yourself on the A380?
For much of the plane's life, Airbus has struggled
to find airlines willing to put the A380 into service.
With a price tag of $445.6 million,
the A380 is one of the most expensive and lavish
aeroplanes ever built.
Production ends with just 251 aeroplanes .
Airbus has already delivered 234 A380's.
Only 17 A380's are yet to be delivered.
14 are set to join Emirates, and 3 will go
to Japan's All Nippon Airways.
As a result, the A380 never developed
into a true work horse like the 747.
Instead, it has been relegated to the position of a niche aircraft,
only economically feasible on routes
with heavy airport congestion.
Emirates airline president, Sir Tim Clark,
has for years pushed Airbus to make
a more cost effective version of the plane
with upgraded aerodynamics and a new fuel efficient
engine called the A380 NEO.
That hasn't happened.
Airbus has been reluctant to invest the kind of money
needed to develop a new version of the A380.
In 2017, Airbus offered it's customers a moderately updated
version of the plane called the A380 plus.
- Well there's a number of benefits which the A380 plus brings.
First of all, lower fuel burn,
a four percent reduction in fuel burn.
We're also adding up to 80 additional seats to the aircraft.
To maintain the range we're increasing the maximum
takeoff weight by 3 tonnes,
and then we've also got benefits in terms of new systems
and more efficient maintenance and operational reliability.
- (Narrator) The A380 Freighter never came to fruition.
In January 2018 Emirates ordered 20 additional A380's
that would have kept the A380 production line moving
for the next decade, however that deal fell apart.
In the end, even the A380's most loyal customer
couldn't hold on any longer.
Emirates cut 39 A380's from it's original order of
162 planes, and bought a smaller twin engine A330 Neos,
and A350's instead.
Even though the A380 production ends in 2021,
the planes are expected to fly on for years to come.
(aeroplane engine)
Whether the A380 is a success or failure,
it remains a significant part of aviation history.
I hope the A380 can remain flying
in the sky for many more years to come.
Have you flown on the A380 before?
I would really like to hear your stories
and read your comments.
If you love aviation, don't forget to check out
by blog, my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook,
and connect with me on social media.
(uplifting music)
(air traffic chatter)