Airbus A380

The Airbus A380 is the world’s large passenger airliner flying today. Airbus began design studies of an ultra-high-capacity airliner in 1988 to compete with the Boeing 747. The A380 was launched in December 2000 as a full-length double-deck aircraft. The first prototype made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse and, after an extensive flight test and certification programme, the A380 entered service with Singapore Airlines on 25 October 2007. Despite global market forecasts predicting long-term growth in passenger numbers and demand for very large aircraft, sales were slow and the A380 didn’t achieve market expectations. In February 2019, Airbus announced that it was ending production of the A380 by 2021. The final A380 was delivered to Emirates in December 2021, with only 254 aircraft having been built. The downturn in air travel due to Covid-19 resulted in nearly every A380 being grounded. Several airlines took the decision to permanently retire early all their A380 fleet. However, a greater than expected post-pandemic demand for air travel since 2021, together with a shortage of aircraft due to supply chain disruption and delays in the production of new fuel-efficient aircraft, has led to the A380 making an unexpected comeback.Nigel Richardson describes the evolution, design and development of the A380 through to its entry into commercial service with several major airlines with high-quality illustrations and technical information.