Airbus A380
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Role
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Wide-body, double-deck jet airliner
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National origin
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Multi-national
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Manufacturer
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Airbus
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First Flight
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April 27, 2005
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Introduction
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October 25, 2007 with Singapore Airlines
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Status
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In production, in service
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Primary users
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Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Lufthansa
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Produced
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2004-present
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Number built
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85 as of February 2012
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Unit Cost
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US$389.9 million
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The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and due to its size, many airports have had to expand their facilities to properly accommodate it. Designed to challenge Boeing's monopoly in the large-aircraft market, the A380 made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 and entered initial commercial service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines. The aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX during much of its development, before receiving the A380 designation.
The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage, with a width equivalent to a wide-body aircraft. This allows for an A380-800's cabin with 478 square metres (5,145.1 sq ft) of floor space; 49% more floor space than the next-largest airliner, the Boeing 747-400 with 321 square metres (3,455.2 sq ft), and provides seating for 525 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 853 people in all-economy class configurations. The A380-800 has a design range of 15,400 kilometres (8,300 nmi; 9,600 mi), sufficient to fly from New York to Hong Kong, and a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 (about 900 km/h or 560 mph at cruising altitude).
As of February 2012 there had been 253 firm orders for the A380, of which 74 have been delivered. The largest order, for 90 aircraft, was from Emirates.
