The in-flight entertainment, the flight management system and the fuel pumps would be from the A350 to reduce weight and improve reliability and fuel economy. It was made to allow Airbus to rival Boeing, whose 747 had been the only very big plane since the 1970s. The A3XX design converged on a double-decker layout that provided more passenger volume than a traditional single-deck design. [57], The long-range wide-body planes, the Airbus A330 and the Airbus A340, have efficient wings, which also have winglets. The outboard engines lack them, reducing the amount of debris stirred up during landing. Together with the orders before that time, there were 1029 orders made within six months after the plane was launched, which is also a new record. Framing and Interorganizational Knowledge Transfer: A Process Study of Collaborative Innovation in the Aircraft Industry. [350], As of September 2019, Emirates initiated its A380 retirement plan – which will see the type remain in service until at least 2035 – by retiring two aircraft that were due for a major overhaul, and using them as parts donors for the rest of the fleet. [52], The first A380 using GP7200 engines—serial number MSN009 and registration F-WWEA—flew on 25 August 2006. [15] Béteille developed a division of labour that would be the basis of Airbus' production for years to come: France would manufacture the cockpit, flight control and the lower centre section of the fuselage; Hawker Siddeley, whose Trident technology had impressed him, was to manufacture the wings;[16] West Germany should make the forward and rear fuselage sections, as well as the upper centre section; the Dutch would make the flaps and spoilers; finally Spain (yet to become a full partner) would make the horizontal tailplane. [8][9] Lockheed was exploring the possibility for a Very Large Subsonic Transport. [133], An order from Emirates for 36 A380s would have ensured production beyond 2020, but the airline wanted guarantees that production would be maintained for 10 years, until 2028: reducing output to six a year would help to bridge that period and would support second-hand values while other buyers are approached, but the programme would still be unprofitable.

[112] Emirates has asked for an update with new engines for the A380 to be competitive with the 777X around 2020, and Airbus is studying 11-abreast seating.
[42][59] BAE Systems and EADS transferred their production assets to the new company, Airbus SAS, in return for shareholdings in that company.[42][60]. From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [3] In 2016, The A380 development costs were estimated at $25 billion for 15 years,[30] $25–30 billion,[31] or €25 billion ($28 billion). [55], At the 2011 Paris Air Show, Airbus got 730 orders for Airbus A320neo family planes. After investigations into alleged bribery, Enders took personal responsibility for the sales organization compliance. The loss of associated value was of grave concern to BAE, press described a "furious row" between BAE and EADS, with BAE believing the announcement was designed to depress the value of its share. Flottau, Jens, In a squeeze, Aviation Week & Space Technology, 27 April – 10 May 2015, p. 64, International Civil Aviation Organization, List of Airbus A380 orders and deliveries, "Airbus unveils first A380 centre wingbox", "Is Airbus's A380 a 'superjumbo' with a future or an aerospace white elephant? [9] Each company made its own parts of the plane, and they were completely ready when they were delivered.

[63][69], As Airbus prioritised the work on the A380-800 over the A380F,[70] freighter orders were cancelled by FedEx[71][72] and United Parcel Service,[73] or converted to A380-800 by Emirates and ILFC.

EADS took a 37.5 % share of the new company that was formally established in December 2001 and which thus became the world's second-largest missile manufacturer.[43]. Russian engineers also performed more than half of all design work on the A330-200F freighter, with its activity related to fuselage structure design, floor grids installation and junctions design. In February 2008, the United States Air Force awarded a $35 billion contract for KC-45 aerial refueling tankers to Northrop Grumman, with EADS as a major subcontractor. [260] The A380 has an airport turnaround time of 90–110 minutes. [107], However, In early July 2016, US House of Representatives passed amendments that would block US Department of Treasury funds from granting export licences or reexport of passenger commercial aircraft. [132] In 2000, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) NV was established.In addition to other subsidiaries pertaining to security and space activities, EADS owned 100% of the pre-existing Eurocopter SA, established in 1992, as well as 80% of Airbus Industrie GIE. [368], In early 2019, Airbus confirmed it was in discussions with Emirates over its A380 contract. Today's Airbus SE is the product of international consolidation in the European aerospace industry tracing back to the formation of the Airbus Industrie GIE consortium in 1970. [34], Major structural sections of the A380 are built in France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. "The company will continue to improve the efficiency of its industrial system to achieve breakeven at 20 aircraft in 2017 and targets additional cost reduction initiatives to lower breakeven further. [254], Airbus measured pavement loads using a 540-tonne (595 short tons) ballasted test rig, designed to replicate the landing gear of the A380. [100], In February 2009, the one millionth passenger was flown with Singapore Airlines[101] and by May of that year 1,500,000 passengers had flown on 4,200 flights. [20] However, not much attention was paid to the A300 because of the launch of Concorde. [148][149][150][151], In September 2020, Airbus completed assembly of the final A380 fuselage. Airbus began as a consortium (a group) of aircraft makers called Airbus Industrie. On 13 June 2006, Airbus announced a second delay, with the delivery schedule slipping an additional six to seven months. [268] In November 2008, an incident on a parallel runway during crosswinds made the Australian authorities change procedures for those conditions. The RB207 had also had design problems and delays, since Rolls-Royce was concentrating on designing a different jet engine, the RB211, for the Lockheed L-1011[12] The A300B was smaller but lighter than its American rivals. Is Airbus Finally Ready To Shut Down A380 Production? The first aircraft was scheduled to begin commercial operations during the first quarter of 2018[328][329] [103][104] Lufthansa received its first A380 in May 2010. [296] On 12 June 2017, Fabrice Brégier confirmed that Airbus would not launch an A380neo, stating "...there is no business case to do that, this is absolutely clear." As of November 2018, Air France was planning to return five of its A380s to lessors by the end of 2019 and refurbish its other five with new interiors by 2020 for $51 million per aircraft. Van Burg, E., Berends, H., & van Raaij, E. M. (2014). [8] In 1991, Jean Pierson, who was then the CEO and Managing Director of Airbus Industrie, gave some reasons why American plane makers were bigger: because the United States is so big, people preferred to fly; a 1942 agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States meant that the United States would make transport planes; and World War II had given the United States "a profitable, vigorous, powerful and structured aeronautical industry. The ICAO also recommends that pilots append the term "Super" to the aircraft's callsign when initiating communication with air traffic control, to distinguish the A380 from "Heavy" aircraft. [157] [9] In that same year, Hawker Siddeley joined with Breguet and Nord to design the airbus.


The head test pilot said that flying the A380 was like "like handling a bicycle". [100] Airbus Group SE changed its legal name to Airbus SE at its 2017 annual meeting on 12 April 2017.[5]. [51] This arrangement led to inefficiencies due to the inherent conflicts of interest that the four partner companies faced; they were both shareholders of, and subcontractors to, the consortium. The company was given its present name in April 2017.