Why The Airbus A380 Is Making An Unlikely Comeback

We are about to fly on an Airbus A380, the largest commercial airliner in the world. It is so large that most airports cannot accommodate its size. That's actually why you can't see it in the shot right now, because the door itself is so big that it blocks the view of the plane. People stop and stare when the plane takes off because you wonder: how does this thing get into the air and stay there? It really is a spectacular plane. The size alone makes it special and the engineering put in to achieve such a feat. The Airbus A380 was designed for long-haul flights.

It has four engines, is a full-length double-decker that offers two levels of passenger seating, with the capacity to carry more than 800 people. Its tail is as tall as a six-story building. Its wingspan is just over 261 feet, which is longer than the plane itself. It has a range of 8,000 nautical miles and a takeoff weight of more than 1 million pounds. Technically, it was kind of an adventure to have this full-length double-decker plane, something that had never been done before. And from the first discussions to the freezing of the aircraft architecture, it took us about ten years. When it debuted, the A380 surpassed the long-reigning Boeing 747 as the largest wide-body airliner, but demand for such large four-engine aircraft did not last long.

Airbus executives may have seen Field of Dreams too many times because I think they had an A380 and if they build it, they will arrive then. In 2019, an A380 had a price tag of $445 million. Airbus sold 251 aircraft to 14 airlines, but Emirates was by far its largest customer. We are a major hub and spoke airline, so we play an important role in transporting the largest number of passengers through Dubai to the rest of our network. So the A380 has been crucial. Orders peaked in the early 2010s and then began to decline during the Covid 19 pandemic. It was one of the hardest hit fleets due to its large size and cost of operation, along with the near-stopping of sailings. long distance international.

I think at one point about 90% of the A380 fleet was grounded. Airbus manufactured the plane for 14 years until it ended production in 2021. Many thought it was the end of the Superjumbos, but the A380 is back and several airlines are taking planes out of retirement. CNBC explores how the A380 became the world's largest airliner and what the future of the massive airliner will look like. The idea of ​​a double-decker airliner was not new when the A380 was being developed. In fact, one of Boeing's original concepts for the 747 in the 1960s was a double-decker aircraft. But as we know, the 747 ended up with its iconic hump and only a small section on the upper deck.

Before Airbus designed the A380, it actually had talks with Boeing, and the two began working together on what they called an ultra-high capacity aircraft, a plane that would be larger than the Boeing 747 and designed to fly long distances like the 747. did. That cooperation dissolved when Boeing concluded that there was simply no demand for an airplane of this size. Airbus continued the venture on its own. It launched the A380 program in 2000 and entered commercial service in 2007. We had challenges everywhere, including in terms of industrialization, of course, templates and tooling. Everything is huge for the A380, so it was a challenge to design this tool and build the aircraft.

Designing a new airplane is a huge and expensive task. It's estimated that Airbus has invested perhaps $25 billion, maybe more, maybe a little less in the A380, and it didn't come close to recouping that money. The company had many problems and delays, causing the stock price to drop almost 26% at one point. But he needed a plane that could carry many passengers like the Boeing 747, with capacity for more than 400 people. Our product line was somewhat limited in terms of aircraft capacity. Therefore, competing with Boeing in this very large aircraft segment was something of a credibility issue. Airbus also estimated strong demand for the large aircraft market.

In the 90s, we expected a very significant growth in air transport and, therefore, connecting megacities with a very large plane, which would allow a large number of passengers to be transported, which made a lot of sense. The time it takes to design and then manufacture a commercial airliner can take years, leaving Boeing and Airbus to base their designs on market trends. If you look at the way Boeing viewed the world, there were hub and spoke systems that form the basis of many air travel networks today. But Boeing's bet was that these networks would continue to become more and more dispersed, and there would be more point-to-point routes and a move away from the hub-and-spoke model.

Passengers are funneled through large hubs to connect to other destinations. The point-to-point model moves passengers between destinations directly without routing them through a central hub. That led to their product decisions on wide-body aircraft like the 777 that came on the market in the mid-1990s, and then the 787 and the late 2000s, and that serve those types of networks. Twin-engine planes like the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 carry fewer passengers than a 747 or A380, but can now travel almost the same distance. Airbus, on the other hand, was betting on a world in which we would basically see more airports like London Heathrow, which are really slot-constrained, and that would force airlines to have to increase their gauge to serve the same number. of passengers, but with less frequent flights. flights.

We are about to board this A380 and we look at the number of people who are preparing to board here. The plane we flew on is Emirates and has capacity for more than 500 people. That's why the A380 is so big that it has three different gangways so everyone can get on board. It's actually a double-decker plane with the lower deck of this plane actually all economy, which is where we're sitting. It's quieter. It feels bigger. You know, it's just, you know, it's a big mammoth flying. It's a beautiful plane. It has two flights of stairs, one front and one rear, and 220 windows throughout the plane.

The first commercial flight of the A380 was made in 2007, operated by Singapore Airlines. The A380 is definitely a passenger-friendly aircraft, but it is also definitely not for every airline or every route an airline may operate. Emirates is the largest customer and operator of the Airbus A380. Of the 251 aircraft on order, Emirates received almost half. The A380 is a beautiful product. We have trusted the brand, we have trusted the aircraft itself. If you look in the cabin. It looks like any other wide-body aircraft, but the fact that there is a completely different level above us makes the A380 so huge.

The double-decker aircraft has allowed airlines such as Emirates and Etihad to offer high-end in-flight amenities, such as suites complete with reclining beds, lounges and even in-flight showers. Airlines have made their A380s very pleasant for passengers. Even in economics. It's quiet, which is important. There are high ceilings, plenty of roof storage and space for carry-on luggage. And when you fly on an Emirates A380. You can take your Polaroid. While its large size allows for more amenities and seating on board, it was a challenge for some airports. So when the A380 came out, many airports were struggling to figure out how to adapt it.

And, you know, some large centers had to modify their doors to be ready for the A380. The amount of infrastructure work that airports have had to carry out to accommodate the A380 is quite considerable. There are actually only a handful of airports that are certified to handle the A380 every day. The A380 doesn't take up more runway to take off or land than, say, a 747, but they had to make sure they had enough space between the taxiways and the runways, because the wingspan of the A380 is simply too large and therefore so large. . broad. Size and economy limited the aircraft's marketing power.

While many of the US airlines had seven, four, seven, none of them bought an A380. So US airlines certainly considered the A380. But they concluded that the A380 simply wasn't right for them. For airlines with long-haul flights such as Dubai to Auckland, the A380 is a good option. We need to recognize that this aircraft is there to serve a kind of niche market between megacities and highly congested airports. Other carriers do not see the importance of that A380. That absolutely depends on your network. But we believe in the A380 and we still believe it. What we have generally heard from airlines is that when you can fill an A380, the unit and per seat costs are very attractive.

But of course, you know, constantly filling 550 seats is much more difficult than constantly filling 350 widebody seats. In early 2000, when the A380 was being developed, orders for its main competitor, the Boeing 747, were already declining. The economics of four-engine aircraft in general are declining. You can fly the A777, 787 or A350 over large bodies of water because those engines have become very reliable. And in many cases, airlines don't want to have to face the cost of overhauling four engines one day if they can achieve the same capacity with two engines. Comparing the A380 to newer technology would be unfair.

The best option would always be that every plane, every new plane that comes out right now, is definitely a little bit more technologically advanced than the previous versions. The same goes for engines. Airbus made the decision to stop production in 2019 and the last aircraft rolled off the production line in 2021. Gradually, orders decreased and then we came to the conclusion that there was no case to continue producing this aircraft. The economic useful life of a wide-body airliner is about 24 years, and so far the average retirement age of an A380 is 11.5 years. When the pandemic hit, the future of the A380 seemed uncertain.

The pandemic forced all airlines to re-examine everything about their businesses, including their fleets and route networks, with some airlines concluding that if they wanted to continue operating the A380, they would need to make substantial investments in their cabins, such as which were not sure. They could pay, and more. You know, that's why some carriers chose not to bring back their fleets. Despite all the challenges, there is still a long future for the A380. That plane probably has a slightly longer future than we thought some time ago. Passengers love it. The crews love it and very soon we will also start updating the product on the A380 in business class, something we would not do if we expect the plane to be grounded soon.

Post-pandemic travel returned at a rapid pace that, along with delivery delays, caused many airlines to return to their A380 fleet when they thought they were previously retired. We have our modernization program that we are currently in and we are spending about $2 billion modernizing our 120 aircraft. 67 of them will be the A380. Congested airports and long-distance travel aren't going away either. Many of them chose this aircraft because it is a very efficient aircraft for transporting a large number of passengers between megacities and is still very efficient in terms of fuel consumption per seat. And the plane remains popular among enthusiasts.

The A380 has been a crowd-pleaser, and still is. While it was no longer viable to continue producing the aircraft, Airbus still considers the A380 a success and will continue to support the aircraft for years to come. Many things we learned from the A380 were carried over to the A350, and many innovations that were decided on at the time of the A380 are now part of the A350. Adam and foundations. Airbus expects the A380 to continue flying for the next two decades and is currently still operated by ten airlines, including Emirates, Lufthansa, Etihad and British Airways. Most Boeing 747s are now freighters, but that is not an option with the A380.

Freight versions were proposed and both Federal Express, Fedex and UPS had expressed interest. The conclusion was that the additional reinforcement that would be required in the plane's floors would be too much and would reduce the viability of the plane. So we just landed and the flight was super smooth. Takeoff, landing, cruise, not too bumpy, boarding and disembarking took a long time, but um, other than that, everything went well. There are certainly those who think that Airbus was chasing the bigger plane, and others will say that perhaps it came too soon. Perhaps we could be looking at the type of restricted airport environment they hypothesized, where an A380 could fit very well.

Its impressive engineering. A lot of credit must be given to the designers, engineers and others at Airbus who helped bring this aircraft to life. Isunlucky. It was simply nothing more than a commercial success.