Airbus A380
The Airbus A380 (also called "Super-jumbo-jet") is a four-engined, double-decked airplane made by Airbus. It is the world's biggest passenger airplane;[1] larger than a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. However, it is not the biggest airplane in the world; the Antonov An-225 is the biggest in the world.
The Airbus A380 can carry up to 850 passengers (but it usually carries about 525), and weighs over 550 tonnes[2]. It has four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines or four Engine Alliance GP7000 engines. The companies General Electric and Pratt & Whitney make alliance engines.
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[change] Orders
A total of 198 A380-800 aeroplanes have been ordered by 14 airlines. One has been ordered by a Saudi Arabian Prince, Al-Walid bin Talal and 10 by a company called ILFC (who give other airlines aeroplanes for rent).
Emirates Airlines (an airline from the United Arab Emirates) will have the most A380 aeroplanes because they have ordered 58, but so far they only have fifteen. Singapore Airlines took delivery of the first A380, which flew to Sydney in Australia on 25 October 2007. Singapore Airlines now have eleven A380s and are still waiting for 12 more.
Other airlines whom have ordered the A380 are Qantas (from Australia, and have seven now), Air France (who have four), China Southern Airlines, Lufthansa (from Germany, who have four), Kingfisher Airlines (from India), Korean Air (from South Korea), Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, British Airways, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways (from the United Arab Emirates), Virgin Atlantic (from the United Kingdom) and Air Austral (France).[3]
[change] Freighter Version
Airbus was going to make a version of the A380 which carried lots of cargo instead of lots of people. This would look almost the same as the normal passenger version, but it would have no windows and much bigger doors. Some cargo companies ordered the plane, like FedEx and UPS. But, because Airbus took too long to make the A380, orders for the plane have been cancelled.[4] Because Airbus has not got any orders for the plane anymore, they decided to not make it for a while and focus on making the passenger version of the A380.
[change] References
- ↑ "Timeline - Airbus A380 'superjumbo'". BBC News. 2006-10-26. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4182641.stm. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
- ↑ "Specifications Airbus A380". Airbus. http://www.airbus.com/en/aircraftfamilies/a380/a380/specifications/. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
- ↑ "Airbus A380 Operators". Planespotters.net Just Aviation. http://www.planespotters.net/Production_List/Airbus/A380/operator.php. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
- ↑ "Airbus freighter woes hit EADS". BBC News. 2007-03-02. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6411543.stm. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
[change] Other websites
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