On 27 April 2005, an aircraft lifted away from the runway of
Toulouse-Blagnac Airport under the power of six massive Rolls-Royce
Trent 900 turbofan engines. It carried a six-man crew, it was
making its first flight, and it was making history. For this was
the Airbus A380, the largest passenger aircraft in the world.
Airbus Industrie was a latecomer to the commercial airliner market,
and initially struggled to win orders away from the
well-established US giants, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. Part of
Airbus's strategy for success was to offer customers distinct
families of aircraft that could be tailored to meet a wide range of
performance and capacity demands. Before 2005, the largest and
arguably most important members of this family strategy were the
Airbus A330 and 340 high-capacity airliners; then along came the
A380. With air traffic continuing to double every 15 years, the
A380 was designed to meet the needs of the passengers and airports,
while also delivering the level of efficiency necessary to protect
the environment for future generations. The design incorporated two
full-length decks with wide-body dimensions, meaning its two
passenger levels offered an entire deck's worth of additional space
compared to the next largest twin-engine jetliner. With more seats
than any other aircraft, the A380 offered solutions to
overcrowding; needing fewer journeys to carry 60 percent more
passengers, making it the perfect solution to airport congestion,
fleet planning optimization and traffic growth. Typical seating
capacity was 525, although the aircraft was certified to carry up
to 853 passengers. By mid-2019, fifteen airlines were operating 238
aircraft throughout the world, the original customer being
Singapore Airlines, which launched its first A380 service in
October 2007\. Production of the A380 peaked at 30 aircraft per
year in 2012 and 2014\. Then, in February 2019, the biggest
customer, Emirates, announced that it was to reduce its latest
order by 39 aircraft in favour of two other Airbus Models, the A350
and A330neo, a version using the same engines as the Boeing 787
Dreamliner. For Airbus, it was the last act. The Company announced
that production of the A380 would cease by 2021.
General
Imprint: |
Air World
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Series: |
Flight Craft |
Release date: |
June 2021 |
Authors: |
Robert Jackson
|
Dimensions: |
297 x 210 x 10mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
88 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-5267-7406-4 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-5267-7406-2 |
Barcode: |
9781526774064 |
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