Etihad receives first Airbus A380

Today, Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi has taken delivery of the first of ten Airbus A380 super jumbo's. Etihad is the thirteenth airline to operate the A380, and the aircraft is the 150th A380 delivered by Airbus.

With the aircraft Etihad intends to boost capacity on several of its busiest routes. Etihad’s A380 seats 498 passengers in four "living spaces", including two VIP passengers in The Residence by Etihad (a three-room cabin in the sky), nine in the First Apartments, 70 in the Business Studio, and 417 in Economy SmartSeats.

Etihad’s first A380 will make its debut on the popular London Heathrow route, from Abu Dhabi International Airport, in December. By the end of 2015, Etihad Airways will have five A380s in operation, with plans to introduce the aircraft on the airline’s Sydney and New York JFK routes.

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Airbus: upgrade or stop A380 Superjumbo

Airbus will have to install more seats in the A380 and at some moment have to decide whether to upgrade the A380 with new engines or stop production of the Superjumbo.

On Wednesday Airbus Chief financial officer Harald Wilhelm was quoted in the media that Airbus might decide to stop production at the end of the decennium. According to Airbus CEO Fabrice Brégier today the A380 will break even during the next few years and that the aircraft manufacturer will have to decide between an upgrade or production stop.

Qantas flies world's longest route with A380

Since this week Qantas is serving the world's longest airline route with the Airbus A380. Qantas started regular non-stop flights in both directions between Sydney and Dallas/Fort Worth, a distance of 13,804 km. The Australian flag carrier used to fly the Boeing 747 on this route, which flew non-stop to Dallas/Fort Worth, but had to make a stopover in Brisbane on the return flight because of headwinds. (Photo: Airbus)

Airbus A380 shows new Etihad livery

We knew already about the tail, which is really beautiful, and now we can see how the whole aircraft looks like: the Airbus A380 in the colours of Etihad Airways. Must say: in my humble opinion the tail is more beautiful than the rest of the aircraft. But maybe that is a matter of taste.
The new livery can be seen on Twitter:

There it is! @EtihadAirways' first Airbus A380! pic.twitter.com/xcrhXu9LDY
— Tom Warners (@SchipholSpot) 25 september 2014

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First A380 for Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has taken delivery of its first Airbus A380 on Tuesday 16 September. The aircraft was handed over at a ceremony in Hamburg, to Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive. Qatar has ten A380 aircraft on order.

British Airways with A380 to San Francisco

British Airways is going to deploy the Airbus A380 on its London Heathrow to San Francisco International service from April 2015.

SFO is BA’s third US A380-destination, after Los Angeles and Washington, DC. Other A380-operators at San Francisco are Lufthansa and Air France (in summer only). Emirates starts A380-flights in December.

The BA A380s offers room to 469 passengers, with 14 suites in first, 97 seats in business, 55 in premium economy and 303 in economy.

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Emirates flies Airbus A380 to Frankfurt

Today, Emirates added its 30th Airbus A380 destination: Frankfurt. The airline has 51 A380s in its fleet now. The arrival of Emirates A380s at Frankfurt seems bad news for Lufthansa. But it is not bad news for Germany, according to an Emirates statement, which says that it is the largest A380 customer with 89 more aircraft pending delivery, "a share of the A380 programme which alone is estimated to support approximately 12,000 direct German jobs."

Taipei Taoyuan Airport readies gates for A380

If the Airbus A380 will ever become a sales success, than it must at least be made possible to fly it to more airports. Taipei Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan understands this very well. The airport is going to renovate two boarding gates in Terminal 2 to accommodate handling of the megajet.

Singapore Airlines with A380 to Auckland

Singapore Airlines will deploy the Airbus A380 megajet on its flights to Auckland in New Zealand from 27 October 2014. The 471-seat aircraft will perform flight SQ285 every day, departing Singapore at 20:50 hours and arriving in Auckland at 11:45 hours the following day.

Who is selling the most widebody jets?

Who is selling the most widebodies? Boeing or Airbus? The two aircraft manufacturers are, as often, quarelling about who sold the most aircraft. The fuss is about this year's sales total so far. Boeing is in a very good mood, because it sold 324 aircraft in July only. It has never had a month that it sold so many planes.

Air France with Airbus A380 to Miami

Starting December 1, 2014, Air France makes Miami in Florida (United States) a new destination for the Airbus A380. Air France wants to attract customers seeking for a winter-sun break.

Airbus terminates Skymark A380 order

Airbus has terminated the purchase order from the Japanese carrier Skymark Airlines for six A380 megajets. The airline cannot pay the aircraft. Skymark ordered the A380s in 2011 and intended to fly them to the United States and Europe.

Skymark booked a loss in its latest financial year and struggles with increasing competition and a weak yen. The termination means another setback for the A380 programme. One A380, partially painted in the Skymark livery, did already make test flights. A second plane is under construction. Airbus is looking for an other user for the two aircraft, which doesn't seem an easy job, because the interiors are specially designed for individual airlines. Skymark wanted fewer than 400 passengers on the A380. Earlier cancellations came from Kingfisher Airliners and Hong Kong Airlines. Air France and Qantas deferred delivery of some ordered aircraft. An order from Virgin Atlantic still seems uncertain.

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The A380 on short-haul service

The Airbus A380 seems to be developed as a big aircraft for long and very long routes. But since July 18 Emirates also flies the giant plane between Dubai and Kuwait City, a flight of one hour and 45 minutes. It is the world’s shortest scheduled A380 flight.

The arrival of the upgraded EK857 service, which touched down at Kuwait International Airport on Thursday July 17, marks 25 years of Emirates’ flights to the country. "We have gradually built up our services to Kuwait since 1989 and we now offer five daily flights, soon to become six," said Sheikh Majid a-Mualla, Emirates' Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Centre, who was onboard the inaugural flight.

Kuwait is the second market in the Middle East to be served by the airline’s flagship aircraft after Saudi Arabia.

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