Airbus A380 Superjumbo Reaches the End of the Road
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Airbus A380 Superjumbo Reaches the End of the Road

Photo by:   Image by mrminibike from Pixabay
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Alicia Arizpe By Alicia Arizpe | Senior Writer - Fri, 06/19/2020 - 11:51

French aerospace giant Airbus prepares to build the last A380, the largest commercial aircraft in the world. The double decker aircraft was not long ago a large bet in the future of aviation, but it panned out due to changing passenger trends and the COVID-19 outbreak.

Developed in an era where the aviation industry was growing unimpeded and expected to continue doing so for many years, the A380 represented Airbus’ bet in the future of the aviation industry. The French planemaker launched the program to develop it during 2000 when the “hub-and-spoke” model, in which small jets took passengers to and from major airport hubs that would connect among each other using large and jumbo jets, was taking speed. Altogether, Airbus invested US$25 billion in the development of this aircraft expecting that under this model, airlines across the globe would require 1,200 super jumbos, of which they would provide half. The A380, valued at US$450 million, can carry 544 passengers in a four-class configuration or up to 853 people if it was filled exclusively with economy class seats. This behemoth has a 79.75m wingspan, an overall length of 72.72m and a height of 24.09m and is powered by four engines.

While the jet is certainly impressive, passengers were found to prefer the “point-to-point” model, which uses smaller aircraft to fly directly to the desired destination as it requires less travel time and layovers. For that reason, Airbus got only 251 orders for the aircraft, a sharp cry from the 750 orders it had originally expected. COVID-19 laid a second blow to the struggling aircraft. As the number of people flying shrunk dramatically both in local and domestic destinations, the viability of such a large aircraft was put to the question by its operators. Emirates, the largest buyer of the A380 with 123 total orders, announced that it would retire some of the 115 superjumbos it currently has in its possession and cancel some of the pending eight orders. Air France also stated that it would retire the nine A380 it currently possesses as they have been grounded by the pandemic. One of them used to fly daily between Paris and Mexico City in the pre-pandemic era. Lufthansa, which operates 14 A380s, will also retire half of them and remove them from its operations in Frankfurt from where it routinely flew to Bangkok, Delhi, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Seoul, among other destinations.

As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to rampage, the recovery of the aviation industry seems further and further away. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) stated that that the world will see 1.5 billion less travelers during 2020, while the International Air Transport Association (IATA) warns that the effects of the outbreak will be felt well into 2021. The low demand for aviation is making a return of the A380 less likely and Airbus has already announced a halt in production of the superjumbo in 2021. This Wednesday, the outsize parts of what will be the last A380 built were delivered in Toulouse, France.

Photo by:   Image by mrminibike from Pixabay

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