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AllFlying |
All hail
the new queen
Liam Miller takes a look at the story of the Airbus A380, which is
set to take over the Boeing 747 title,"Queen of the Skies" (Oct 2005).  The
Airbus A380 will become the largest passenger aircraft in the skies as of next
year. The journey from concept to delivery has been a long and difficult one,
nevertheless, the massive aircraft continues to arouse the interest of the aviation
industry and general public alike.
The concept of a double-decker aircraft
spawned from the early planning stages of the Boeing 747, at present, the most
easily identified aircraft in service. However, Boeing abandoned the complete
twin-deck configuration in favour of a semi-double deck and wide-body design.
In June 1994, Airbus began development of the ìA3XXî, later renamed the A380
with the announcement of Singapore Airlines as the launch customer.
The A380
is an out-of-sequence model number, as the rest of the Airbus family numbers from
the A300, 310, the A320 family, 330 and 340; this aircraft was expected to be
the A350. A380 was chosen as the digit ì8î looks like a cross-section of the aircraft.
Airbus has since launched an A350 project.
In constructing the aircraft,
Airbus used the new material GLARE, which is a glass-reinforced fibre metal laminate,
not to be confused with composite materials used notably in the later A300 series.
GLARE is lighter, has superior corrosion-resistance, and is stronger than traditional
materials employed in aircraft manufacturing.
The A380 promotes a paperless
cockpit, with information such as the equipment list, performance calculations,
navigation charts and logbook all accessible via a foldout QWERTY keyboard and
trackball. Unlike Boeing's new aircraft, 787, the A380 does not feature a heads-up
display (HUD) as standard.
Rolls-Royce has been selected to provide the launch
engines on the A380 with its purpose-built Trent 900 power plants. The Trent 900
has claimed to have the lowest turbofan emissions of any airliner, and is also
the quietest engine on the A380 in comparison to its only other rival, the Engine
Alliance GP7200: the joint venture of two of the largest engine manufacturers,
General Electric and Pratt & Whitney.
The Trent 900 was on the wing for
the 380's maiden flight, however, Engine Alliance has supplied Airbus the first
four engines for certification expected to take place this month, though the most
recent A380 to take to the sky was equipped with Trent 900s. This was only the
second 380 to fly: the certification program will involve a further 3 aircraft
and more than another 2,100 hours in the sky.
There have been a total of
132 firm orders placed for the passenger A380-800 model. 17 orders have also been
placed for the freight model, A380-800F, the majority of these frames will be
going to freight majors FedEx and UPS.
It has been estimated that break-even
for Airbus sits around 250-300 units, although it has been speculated that the
early customers such as Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Qantas were able to obtain
a better price. The exact price per unit has been withheld.
Emirates has
an order for 41 passenger frames and 2 freight frames, and upon delivery, will
make it the largest operator of A380 aircraft. Lufthansa will be the second largest
with 15 firm orders, and Qantas third with 12. Singapore Airlines and Air France
both have 10 aircraft on order, and both FedEx and UPS have 10 A380F models due
as well.
In June this year, early A380 customers Singapore Airlines, Qantas,
Emirates and Malaysia Airlines were told to expect delays on delivery of the A380.
It is believed that these delays are due to underestimating the time and involvement
required to fit the highly customisable cabins the airlines have been offered.
Parts of the wings' wiring had to be redesigned as well.
Head of the A380
programme Charles Champion remains optimistic. ìThere is no technical showstopper,
just bottlenecks in engineering and electrical harnesses,î he says.
The first
Airbus manufactured for delivery is taking shape; the tail fin already painted
in Singapore Airlines livery has been attached to the aircraft. The aircraft is
not expected to enter service until November or December 2006.
However, chief
executive of Singapore Airlines Chew Choon Seng is still disappointed with the
delay. Singapore Airlines began an advertising campaign of ìFirst to Fly A380
in 2006î, and the November/December entry to service is pushing the promises of
the campaign.
ìAirbus took a long time to admit that the A380 programme was
lagging behind schedule,î he tells Focus magazine. ìI wish they had been more
honest about it.î
Chew says the delay has "wrecked" the airline's
capacity and scheduling, and says his company is entitled to damages as outlined
in the contract.
Emirates, however, has taken a different approach. In June,
after hearing of the delays, both Airbus and Emirates denied the airline would
be taking legal action or seeking damages, as their contract already stipulates
compensation in the event of delays.
An Emirates spokesperson says the airline
is confident that there will be no significant issue to arise from the delay.
ìWe hope we can manage, from now until the delivery, to reschedule the use of
the aircraft,î he says.
An Airbus spokesman says each airline has their own
agreement with the manufacturer, and there are penalties outlined in these regarding
delays in payment or delays in delivery.
Qantas chief executive officer Geoff
Dixon has been developing contingency plans since the announcement of the delay,
in an attempt to minimise the impact on the airline's schedule and capacity. ìThis
is disappointing given that we have met all of Airbus' deadlines for Qantas specifications,î
he says.
Nevertheless, Australian passengers will still be the first to fly
the new Airbus, as Singapore Airlines is expected to schedule its first A380 on
the ìKangaroo routeî, Sydney-London. Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne airports
have completed facility upgrades as far as being able to land an A380, though
the construction of dual-aerobridges will be complete when the aircraft takes
to commercial service next year.
The three airports will catch their first
glimpse at the giant aircraft when it tours to Australia after the first long-haul
test flight from Toulouse, France to Singapore early next month.
By
Liam Miller 
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