Airbus has delivered Singapore Airlines’ 11th A380 and Lufthansa’s second A380 on Friday 16th July, taking the A380 in-service fleet to 33 aircraft. These deliveries bring the year’s A380 deliveries by mid-July to 10 putting Airbus well on track to meet its full year’s target of at least 20.
The other A380 operators are Emirates Airline which has a fleet of 11, Air France with a fleet of three and Qantas with a fleet of six. Together the five A380 operators serve 18 major cities worldwide every day. The 31 A380s in service to date have clocked up 156,000 revenue flight hours in some 17,000 commercial flights and transported over six million passengers to 20 major international destinations worldwide in unequalled comfort.
The “A380 effect”
Airbus’ analysis of traffic data on various routes before and after the introduction of the A380 explains why operators are so enthusiastic about their A380 fleets. Namely there are demonstrated benefits such as higher average load factors and a visible market share shift in favour of the A380. This “A380 effect” is the combined result of the huge popularity of the A380 with the travelling public and the reduction in fuel-burn and other operating costs which lead to superior profitability for A380 operators.
Airbus has received to date 234 orders for the A380 from 17 customers.
