Tomorrow Friday 30 October 2009, the first Airbus A380 will be delivered to Air France (MSN0033 / F-HPJA). Air France will be the first European airline receiving an A380. The ceremony will be held at Airbus’ delivery centre Hamburg (Germany).
The delivery ceremony will be streamed live on http://www.a380delivery.com/airfrance
Live video streaming is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. French time (10:00 a.m. GMT).
Photo: Air France
With a kind of hard crosswind landing, Airbus A380 F-WWDD MSN004 arrived at Oshkosh Air Venture 2009 yesterday. This is the first time that an A380 attends to an North American Air Show.
In addition to flight demonstrations and presentations by Airbus officials and flight crew, self-guided tours of the A380’s interior will be allowed for the first time. Attendees will have the opportunity to walk through the aircraft’s main deck and full-length upper deck.
Video: A380 Hard Landing at Oshkosh (Wittman Regional Airport KOSH) Runway 36
Video Part 1: A380 arriving at Oshkosh Air Venture 2009
Video Part 2: A380 arriving at Oshkosh Air Venture 2009
Korean Air has placed firm orders with Airbus for two more A380 aircraft. This latest purchase agreement brings the total number of A380s ordered by Korean Air to 10 aircraft. The carrier will operate the aircraft in a three-class layout on routes linking Seoul to destinations in North America and Europe, including Los Angeles, New York and Paris.
“Our decision to purchase the A380 aircraft is in line with our vision to become a global leading carrier providing the best quality of service to our passengers,” said Yang Ho Cho, Chairman and CEO of Korean Air. “The A380 is a comfortable, environment-friendly aircraft for the 21st century and it will enable Korean Air to provide Excellence in Flight to our customers.”
Total orders for the aircraft now stand at 200 from 16 customers.
Source: Airbus
Image: Airbus
Airbus yesterday reached its target of delivering 12 A380 aircraft in 2008, bringing the total number of A380s delivered to date to 13.
The first A380 was delivered to Singapore Airlines on 15th October 2007, with five more delivered to the airline in 2008. Qantas received three A380s in 2008, and Emirates four – the most recent of which was delivered on the 30th December 2008 from the Airbus delivery centre in Hamburg, Germany.
“We have met our 2008 delivery schedule”, said Tom Enders, Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer. “That was only possible thanks to a tremendous team effort. This gives us a good basis to further ramp up our production in 2009. With the in-service fleet steadily growing, our airline customers are benefiting from lower operating costs while their passengers are benefiting from unequalled cabin comfort and quietness. The environment is benefiting too. With lower emissions and noise, the A380 is the most eco-efficient aircraft in service today.”
The in-service A380 fleet has flown more than 21,000 revenue flight hours in more than 2200 commercial flights carrying more than 890,000 passengers. The world’s first full double-deck aircraft is now connecting four continents and flying on seven major international routes. A380s in service link Singapore with Sydney, London and Tokyo, Dubai with New York and London, and Sydney and Melbourne with Los Angeles.
Being greener, cleaner, quieter and smarter, the A380 is setting new standards for air transport and the environment. In addition to the quiet and spacious double-deck cabin, the A380 is also setting new industry-standards for the environment. The in-service experience has shown that the A380 consumes 20 percent less fuel per seat than the previous largest aircraft, representing the lowest fuel burn of any large aircraft ever.
Orders for the aircraft stand at 198 from 16 customers. In 2009 Airbus plans to deliver 21 A380s.
Source: Airbus
Photo: Airbus
Always staring at the same desktop wallpaper gets pretty boring over time. I decided to create a desktop wallpaper from one of my own A380 photos. If you like it, you can download this wallpaper below.
To fit anybody’s needs I made it available in many different sizes. Just choose the right file, depending on your screen resolution.
Widescreen 16:10
Includes: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600
[Download]
Fullscreen 4:3 & 5:4
Includes: 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1600×1200, 2048×1536
[Download]
HDTV 16:9
Includes: 720p, 1080p
[Download]
Mobile
Includes: 800×480, 320×240 (Cellphone), 320×480 (Apple iPhone), 480×272 (Sony PSP)
[Download]
Australia’s flagship airline, Qantas, has received the first of 20 Airbus A380s on order, at a ceremony in Toulouse, France. The Rolls-Royce powered aircraft was handed over to Qantas Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Dixon and Qantas CEO-Designate, Alan Joyce by Tom Enders, Airbus President and CEO and John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers.
Photos and videos at http://www.a380delivery.com/qantas/
The aircraft – VH-OQA / MSN014 – is named in honour of “Nancy Bird Walton“, an female Australien aviation pioneer.
Qantas’ A380 cabin was created by internationally renowned designer Marc Newson. Typically the A380 seats 525 passengers in three-classes, however Qantas’ cabin is extra spacious with 450 seats (14 First, 72 Business, 32 Premium Economy and 332 Economy) (seat plan).
Qantas’ A380 will stop-over in Singapore before arriving in Sydney on September 21st at 9:00am local time. Qantas’ first commercial A380 services will be launched on October 20th from Melbourne to Los Angeles, and on October 24th from Sydney to Los Angeles. Later Qantas will also fly the A380 to Singapore and London.
Source: Airbus
Emirates has suspended operations of its Airbus A380 airliner until September 12 as engineers work on an electrical fault, the airline announced today.
The electrical fault on the Emirates plane “was noticed at the end of a training mission, when the aircraft was parked in front of the hangars,” said an official at the Dubai-based airline, providing no further details.
The route to New York JFK will be served meanwhile with Boeing 777-300ER.
Continue at http://www.arabianbusiness.com/530285-emirates-a380-flights-suspended-until-sept-12
Yesterday afternoon Emirates Airbus A380-800 (A6-EDA MSN 011), flight EK3801, has made its first commercial landing in the US at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Don’t miss some great photos at the nycaviation.com forum:
http://nycaviation.com/forum/post-your-photos-emirates-a380-arrives-at-jfk-t12973.html
Unfortunately till now there’re no videos on YouTube. I’ll edit this posting as soon as some videos arrive.
You can find a video of the landing at the WNBC website:
http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=282105#videoid=282105
Listening to JFK Tower was kinda funny 🙂
Tower: EK 3801 “Super Heavy” – cleared to Land
Chopper 4: Super Heavy? Super?
Tower: Yeah Super
Chopper 4: Wow
-Update- Videos
Emirates A380 inaugural flight to JFK gets water canon salut
EK3801 DXB-JFK Departure from Passenger View
Greeted by Water Cannon Salute
Today Emirates Airline has taken delivery of its first Airbus A380 aircraft (A6-EDA MSN 011) in an historic delivery ceremony with over 500 guests in Hamburg, Germany. The first customer A380 powered by Engine Alliance GP7200 engines, was presented to Chairman and Chief Executive Emirates Airline and Group, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum and to Emirates President, Tim Clark by Tom Enders, Airbus President and CEO and John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers. Also present was James Moravecek, Engine Alliance President and Bruce Hughes, former Engine Alliance President.
“Emirates was quick to recognise the potential of Airbus’ all new A380 design, with its large double-deck capacity and excellent operating economics. It will be one of the pillars of Emirates’ future,†said Sheikh Ahmed. “With its very low fuel burn and quietness, the A380 also sets new standards in environmental performance. It will definitely help air transportation and Emirates grow, while reducing the impact on the environment,†he added.
At the ceremony, Emirates unveiled its exclusive, spacious and luxurious cabin, featuring 489 seats (14 first class suites, 76 business and 399 economy). For added passenger relaxation, innovative ceiling mood lighting throughout creates a calming starry night sky effect.
Video – Emirates offers on-board Shower Spa and premium Lounge:
“Fulfilling the A380 dream has required vision, innovation, a lot of courage and determination. Emirates shared in this vision early on and today the result is the world’s most modern, innovative and eco-efficient aircraft ever built. The A380 is changing the way people travel. Airbus is proud of all the engineers, staff and customers such as Emirates who have made the A380 a magnificent reality,†said Tom Enders.
Emirates is the largest customer for the A380 with 58 aircraft on order. Four Engine Alliance GP7200 engines delivering up to 72,000 lbs of thrust each will power the aircraft, with a resultant overall fuel efficiency of only three litres of fuel per passenger per 100 kilometres.
To date, total orders and commitments for the A380 stand at 202 aircraft from 17 customers.
Check out http://www.a380delivery.com/ for great photos and videos!
Source: Airbus
Photo Credit: Airbus
Upcoming major events for Airbus:
Farnborough Airshow 14 – 20 July 2008
Airbus takes its flagship, the A380 to the U.K. for the 2008 edition of the Farnborough Air Show.
Anyone interested can use the special Airbus desktop widget to get latest news, announcements, photos and videos from the UK.
Download at http://www.airbus.com/en/myairbus/events/farnborough2008/index.html
More information about the Farnborough Airshow – celebrating its 60th anniversary – at farnborough.com
28 July 2008 – First A380 delivery to Emirates
On the heels of the Farnborough air show, Emirates will take delivery of its first A380 aircraft. The event will take place in Hamburg and can be followed in real time at http://www.a380delivery.com/
First A380 delivery to Qantas
Qantas will receive its first A380 toward the end of the summer.
This event will be featured live at airbus.com and a380delivery.com with many videos and photographs, allowing a close look at the new cabin.
