A few weeks ago we talked about the Boeing 747. This week, it’s their rivals turn… with Air France announcing that all of their A380 will be retired by 2022.
The 747 is well known for its nickname ‘Queen of the Skies’ or the ‘Jumbo Jet’. But the A380 is much bigger than the 747, hence it was dubbed the ‘Superjumbo’ by the media. Airbus built the A380 as direct competition to the Boeing 747 monopoly.
How was the A380 brought into being?
Airbus saw that Boeing enjoyed a sort of monopoly with its 747. It was the only ultra-high capacity airliner (UHCA). Airbus tasked a team of engineers under the leadership of Jean Roeder to begin development in secret.
However, the A380 project had not been the first to attempt to challenge the 747. The MD-12 was. The MD-12 was a double deck aircraft that was unsuccessful in challenging the 747. Lockheed also looked into the possibility of a 747 challenger for a very large supersonic aircraft.
Roeder was given further approval after he and his team presented their findings to the president of Airbus. Airbus announced the project at Farnborough Airshow 1990. They stated that the A380 would have 15% lower operating costs compared to the 747-400. Airbus tasked its internal partners to design new technologies for their future aircraft.
In 1992, all the designs were presented. Only the most competitive designs were chosen. In 1993, Boeing and the Airbus consortium collaborated on research to see how feasible a Very Large Commercial Transport was. This was done with the intention to form a partnership to share the limited market. In 1994, Airbus announced their intention to develop its very own large commercial aircraft. It was designated the A3XX.
There were several designs for the aircraft. Idea like two A340 fuselages attached to one another, in a side by side position. This was because the A340 was the latest airbus aircraft at that time. The A3XX was in direct competition with the VLCT study and the Boeing New Large Aircraft. The 747 replacement.
In 1995, the VLCT study was abandoned. Boeing’s interest declined after analysts claimed that a project like this would never cover the $15 billion development costs. Despite this, two airlines had expressed their interest in the aircraft publicly. With Airbus pursuing their own large aircraft. Analysts suggested that Boeing should stretch their 747 design, as they claimed the hub-and-spoke model was becoming inadequate. This rendering no need for large commercial aircraft.
From 1997-2000, the East Asian Financial Crisis raged. Which darkened market outlooks. This forced Airbus to refine their design, Airbus now had to target 15%-20% reduction in operating costs compared to the 747-400. The A3XX design was also refined. The design was to have a double deck- one on top of the other. To provide more passenger volume than the traditional single deck design. Airbus stayed traditional- believing that the hub and spoke model would stay true. The opposite of Boeing with their 777 and point-to-point theory.
On the 19th of December 2000, the supervisor board voted to launch €9.5 billion ($10.7 billion) to build the A3XX. Now christened the A380. 50 orders were made by 6 launch customers.
The A380 designation was a break in the sequence of Airbus family names. That had gone up sequential- A300 to A340. It was chosen due to the fact that 8 is considered lucky in many Asian countries. As the aircraft was targeted at Asian countries.
The aircraft was finalised in 2001. The manufacturing of the wing-box component started in early 2002. The development cost of the A380 had grown to €11-14 billion when the first aircraft was completed and delivered.
What will replace the A380?
Obviously, Air France have their reasons for retiring their A380s. Mainly:
- The high costs to run the aircraft, it costs 20-25% per seat to run the A380. This is compared with other long haul aircraft such as the 787 and A350.
- The fact that the hub and spoke model doesn’t work anymore. Consumers tastes and wants change, they no longer want to catch several connecting flights. They want to only take one flight
- Increasing maintenance costs. The A380 is no longer being produced, therefore new parts are hard to come by. Therefore, these parts cost more, which hurt the airlines bottom lines
- They’re in need of refurbishment. The A380s are old. At least in terms of aircraft. So customers want newer looking aircraft interiors. And there’s a lot of aircraft to refurbish. This will cost the airlines a lot of money. Which they understandably don’t want to do
What will replace the A380?
It’s obviously too early to tell exactly. But many assume it will be the A350, A321xlr and 787. According to YouTuber Sam Chui, the A330neo will replace the A380. Not only for the airlines.
Airbus will need a new flagship. Some assume this will be the A350. However it may truly be too early to say… We’ll see in 2022.