Emmanuel Duteil, edited by Gauthier Delomez with AFP 4:00 p.m., December 16, 2021
The 251st and last Airbus A380 produced has been delivered to its customer, Emirates, the Gulf airline said Thursday, marking the end of an era for the European aircraft manufacturer whose giant aircraft suffered a commercial failure.
Airbus had announced the end of production of the A380 in 2019, due to lack of new orders.
The 251st and last Airbus A380 produced has been delivered to its customer, Emirates, the Gulf airline said Thursday, marking the end of an era for the European aircraft manufacturer whose giant aircraft suffered a commercial failure.
The A380 registered A6-EVS is Emirates' 123rd, by far the largest user of the "super jumbo" launched in 2000 but for which Airbus announced the end of production in 2019, due to lack of new orders.
>> Find Europe midi in replay and podcast here
Tribute to the Airbus teams
"On behalf of all the Airbus teams, I would like to take advantage of this delivery to warmly thank Emirates, the world's largest operator of the A380, for its trust and long-standing partnership. May the next landings be numerous!" said Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, quoted in a press release. For its part, Emirates stressed that "the reception of a new aircraft in a context still marked by the pandemic, testifies to the optimism of Emirates, convinced of the recovery of the sector and the return of travel demand" and recalled that the company was the first to announce an order for the A380 in 2000.
With two decks running its entire length (72.7 m), the A380 has a wingspan of 79.8 m and is the largest commercial aircraft in history, with a capacity of up to 853 seats.
From a commercial point of view, it will have been far from fulfilling the initial objective of Airbus, which had estimated the market for planes with more than 500 seats at 1,300 aircraft over 20 years, hoping to capture 50%.
Singapore Airlines was the first to integrate an A380 into its fleet, in 2007.
A decision taken in February 2019
The European aircraft manufacturer, which had thought of the giant four-jet engine, capable of transporting 545 passengers over 15,000 km, like the successor to the legendary 747 from its American rival Boeing, had decided in February 2019 to stop the costs, once the orders had been fulfilled.
This was before the Covid-19 crisis nailed many large aircraft to the ground.
Some companies have withdrawn from the A380 on this occasion, others had already done so before, such as Air France.
The aircraft manufacturer believes that "the A380 will continue to be operated by airlines for more than twenty years", even if they will have no successor.