A380 Celebrates First Year in Service

The 25th of October marked the first year of airline service for the Airbus A380. The first production A380 was handed over to Singapore Airlines on 15th October 2007 and made its first operational flight for the airline 10 days later with a special charity flight between Singapore and Sydney.

Since then, the A380 has also entered service with Emirates Airline and Qantas Airways and a total of nine aircraft have been delivered to date—six are in operation with Singapore Airlines, one with Qantas and two with Emirates.

So far, A380s have already carried more than 700,000 passengers on seven major international routes. The A380s currently in service fly Singapore–Sydney, Singapore–London, Singapore–Tokyo, Dubai–New York, and Sydney and Melbourne–Los Angeles routes.

The in-service fleet has recorded more than 15,000 revenue flight hours in more than 1,600 commercial flights. Airbus reports that in-service experience with the aircraft 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.

“Singapore Airlines is very pleased with the performance of the A380 in its first year of operations” said Chew Choon Seng, Singapore Airlines’ Chief Executive Officer. “We are now flying six of them, linking Singapore with Sydney and Tokyo daily, and with London twice every day. The A380 has lived up to its promises and proved to be reliable and fuel-efficient. Importantly, it has been a hit with our customers who enjoy its spaciousness, quietness and comfort, as well as the new cabin products and features we introduced with it. Our crews enjoy working on the aircraft and the A380 has advanced the airline’s reputation for services that other airlines talk about.”

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Emirates’ Chairman & Chief Executive said: “In addition to the lower impact on the environment, its new-generation engines and superb aerodynamic performance mean that the A380 not only complies with today’s noise limits, it is also significantly quieter than any other large aircraft flying today and produces only half as much noise on take-off and landing as the former largest commercial aircraft. It is a perfect fit for Emirates’ future eco-efficient fleet, and that is why we have ordered 58 of them.”

Geoff Dixon, Qantas’ Chief Executive Officer said: “With a range of 15,200 km the A380 gives us huge benefits. It is the ideal equipment to alleviate traffic congestion at busy airports, while coping with growth. It is a bigger aircraft, which is more efficient at handling frequencies on certain routes. This 21st Century flagship ticks a wide range of boxes for us.”

“Today is a special anniversary for Airbus,” said Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders. “It shows that with perseverance, hard work and close collaboration with airlines, the A380 meets all its promised performance objectives. It brings real benefits to our customers as the aircraft’s efficiency and dispatch reliability is unprecedented.”

Airbus has now received orders and commitments for 202 A380s from 17 customers.