Airbus A380
The Airbus A380, formerly known as A3XX, is the world's biggest and heaviest passenger airliner. It is Airbus's answer to the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. The aircraft has two passenger decks over the full length of the fuselage.
The basic version is the A380-800, an aircraft with 555-seats in a three-class cabin. In charter-layout there is even space for more than 800 passengers.
On 27 April 2005 the Airbus A380 flew for the first time from Toulouse Blagnac, where the final assembly of the airliner takes place. Service entry with Singapore Airlines, however, is delayed several times, from March 2006 to October 2007, due to production problems, especially with the complex wiring of the aircraft.
Airbus had planned a A380-800F cargo variant. However, because of the production delays all orders for the freighter version were cancelled and Airbus stopped the development of this version. Among the airlines that had ordered the A380-800F were UPS (United Parcel Service) and Federal Express (FedEx). Possibly Airbus will restart the development of the freighter at a later stage.
Proposed variants of the A380 are a A380-700 'short-body' version seating 480 passengers in a three-class layout and the A380-900 stretch with a capacity of 656 seats in three-class layout and around one thousand passengers in high-density configuration.
The A380 has an advanced fuel system, which helps actively controlling the aircraft in flight. Because before take-off fuel in the wing makes the wing bend too much, fuel is mainly kept in the inboard tanks and in the tailplane tanks. Later, when the aircraft is in the air, the fuel is gradually pumped into the wing tanks. This also helps to control the centre of gravity and reduce drag.
The Airbus A380 airframe consists of 22 per cent composite materials. The upper fuselage skin is made of Glare, a material made of alternating layers of aluminium and glass fibre reinforced material, to save weight and to achieve more structural strength.
Airbus offers A380 customers a choice of two engines: the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Pratt & Whitney - General Electric Engine Alliance GP7200s. The first aircraft was fitted with Trent 900 engines.
Among the first airlines that have ordered the Airbus A380 are: Emirates, Air France, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Korean Air and Virgin Atlantic.
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