Airbus A380 Model Airplane

Item#: 71984

Wing Span: 18"
Length: 16.35"

Manufacturer: Airbus Industries

This Airbus A380 Airplane Model comes with a detachable stand a Personalized inscription plaque and a laminated message that adds beauty to this collectible masterpiece.

Airbus A380 History:

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, an EADS subsidiary. The largest passenger airliner in the world, the A380 made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse, France,[2] and made its first commercial flight on 25 October 2007 from Singapore to Sydney with Singapore Airlines. The aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX during much of its development phase, but the nickname Superjumbo has since become associated with it.

The A380's upper deck extends along almost the entire length of the fuselage, and its width is equivalent to that of a widebody aircraft. This allows for a cabin with 50% more floor space than the next-largest airliner, the Boeing 747-400 and provides seating for 525 people in standard three-class configuration[4][5] or up to 853 people in all economy class configuration The A380 is offered in passenger and freighter versions. The A380-800, the passenger model, is the largest passenger airliner in the world, but has a shorter fuselage than the Airbus A340-600 which is Airbus' next biggest passenger aeroplane. The A380-800F, the freighter model, is offered as one of the largest freight aircraft, with a listed payload capacity exceeded only by the Antonov An-225.The A380-800 has a design range of 15,200 kilometres (8,200 nmi), sufficient to fly from Boston, Massachusetts to Hong Kong for example, and a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 (about 900 km/h or 560 mph at cruising altitude).It is the first commercial jet capable of using GTL-based fuel.

In June 1994, Airbus began developing its own very large airliner, designated the A3XX. Airbus considered several designs, including an odd side-by-side combination of two fuselages from the A340, which was Airbus’s largest jet at the time.[12] The A3XX was pitted against the VLCT study and Boeing’s own New Large Aircraft successor to the 747, which evolved into the 747X, a stretched version of the 747 with the fore body "hump" extended rearwards to accommodate more passengers. The joint VLCT effort ended in April 1995,[13] and Boeing suspended the 747X program in January 1997. From 1997 to 2000, as the East Asian financial crisis darkened the market outlook, Airbus refined its design, targeting a 15 to 20 percent reduction in operating costs over the existing Boeing 747-400. The A3XX design converged on a double-decker layout that provided more passenger volume than a traditional single-deck design.

On 19 December 2000, the supervisory board of newly restructured Airbus voted to launch a €8.8 billion program to build the A3XX, re-christened as the A380, with 55 orders from six launch customers. The A380 designation was a break from previous Airbus families, which had progressed sequentially from A300 to A340. It was chosen because the number 8 resembles the double-deck cross section, and is a lucky number in some Asian countries where the aircraft was being marketed.[12] The aircraft’s final configuration was frozen in early 2001, and manufacturing of the first A380 wing box component started on 23 January 2002. The development cost of the A380 had grown to €11 billion when the first aircraft was completed.

The first A380, serial number MSN001 and registration F-WWOW, was unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse on 18 January 2005. Its maiden flight took place at 8:29 UTC (10:29 a.m. local time) 27 April 2005. This plane, equipped with Trent 900 engines, flew from Toulouse Blagnac International Airport with a flight crew of six headed by chief test pilot Jacques Rosay. After successfully landing three hours and 54 minutes later, Rosay said flying the A380 had been “like handling a bicycle” .

The maiden flight of the first A380 using GP7200 engines - serial number MSN009 and registration F-WWEA - took place on 25 August 2006.

The first aircraft delivered, MSN003, (registered 9V-SKA) was handed over to Singapore Airlines on 15 October 2007 and entered into service on 25 October 2007 with a commercial flight between Singapore and Sydney (flight number SQ380).[45] Two months later Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choong Seng said that the A380 was performing better than both the airline and Airbus had anticipated, burning 20% less fuel per passenger than the airline's existing 747-400 fleet.[46] Singapore Airlines operated its first two aircraft, in a 471-seat configuration, between Singapore and Sydney. This was then expanded to include Singapore–London from 18 March 2008 after the third aircraft was delivered.[47] A fourth aircraft was delivered to Singapore Airlines on the 26 April 2008 which enabled it to use the type on the Singapore-Tokyo route from 20 May.[48] On 2 August 2008 Singapore Airlines began the temporary use of the A380 to Beijing to meet increased demand for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing,[49] and on 4 August made the company's 1000th commercial flight with an A380. Singapore Airlines operates six A380 aircraft as of September 2008.