- Welcome back to my new video. The Airbus A380 is the
world's largest aeroplane, and the most expensive one as well. Last week Airbus announced that it would stop production of the A380 by 2021. So, what went wrong? In just 10 years this aeroplane has fallen from being an airline status
symbol to being a reject. Let's find out about, in this video, the rise and fall of the Airbus A380. Airbus has spent a decade trying to break into a market
dominated by the Boeing 747. They had set its sights
on bigger targets. Airbus wanted to introduce
an aircraft even bigger than the Boeing 747 with
lower operating costs. The result was a double-decker
concept called the A3XX, which was eventually called the A380. The A380 was launched in December 2000. The super jumbo has now been in service for more than a decade. An A380 takes off or lands around the world every two minutes. Today the A380 fleets make
over 300 flights per day operating on more than 120 routes, and 60 destinations by 14 airlines. Since its entry into service the A380 has carried almost
250 million passengers. The first A380 flight took place in Toulouse on 27 April, 2005. People from all over the
world came to Toulouse. Well, I was one of 'em too. It was a day that I will
never forget in my life. At 10:29 a.m. the first
A380 prototype opened up the throttles of its four
massive turbofan engines. As the super-jumbo took off from the Airbus facility
in Toulouse, France, the largest commercial airliner
around was actually flying. Seeing is believing. The A380 entered into commercial service with Singapore Airlines on 25 October 2007 from Singapore to Sydney. I was one of the lucky few
who flew on the inaugural return flight from Sydney to Singapore on the next day in the new Singapore Airline suites. At 239 feet long, 79 feet tall, and 262 feet from wingtip to
wingtip, it is a big aeroplane. Only the Boeing 747-8 is longer
at 250 feet and two inches. The A380's flight crew operate from a state of
the art glass cockpit. The aircraft is flown using a side-stick with a fly-by-wire control system. This is a table, and one
more flip is the keyboard. Engine power is here, the radio is here, and speed brake, flaps, - Parking brake, this one.
- Parking brake. Each A380 consists of around 4
million individual components. The aircraft has 220 windows and 16 doors. During the takeoff, the wing will flex
upwards by over 4 metres. Guys I'm just on the platform. We've reached the maximum
height in this hanger, and it goes to about the same
level as the 380 tail, it's about 75, 80 metres tall. And it gives you a bird's eye
view of the A380 underneath. This is the best view to look at a 380; to look down on it. What a marvellous piece
of engineering, really, for such a large aeroplane
to exist and to fly in the sky today. That's the camera, that's the tail camera. Oh that's the secret. So crazy, yes, to touch that. As an airliner, the A380
promised luxury and comfort on an unprecedented scale. The airbus delivered premium features such as walk-up bars,
lounges and bathrooms with showers which set this super-jumbo
jet apart from it's rivals. There are first class suites. (gentle music) And then the even larger
first class suite. (gentle music) And then there's the Etihad Residence, a 125 square foot home in the sky. Passengers love the comfort
and the quietness of the A380. Even the economy class
is very comfortable. I think very few aeroplanes
have achieved this status. And I also know that there are many
people who go out of their way to book on to an A380 flight
to ensure that comfort. 14 Airlines operate A380 currently. Air France, Asiana, British
Airways, China Southern, Emirates, Etihad, Korean
Air, Hi Fly, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways. Portugal's Hi Fly became the first airline to offer a second hand A380, when it took delivery of an
ex Singapore Airlines jet in the summer of 2018. Japan's All Nippon Airways will soon begin commercial service with
it's first A380 in 2019. - The success of the A380 first is derived from
the passenger experience. The A380 offers the most comfortable cabin in the industry today. One benefit often overlooked when having an A380 in your network, is the effect that it has
on the connecting traffic. This means, not only, that
you stimulate traffic demand from other origin and destination pairs. But also, you can improve the yields of those connecting flights. When you're travelling long
haul, say Trans-Pacific, there are only so many time slots in a day that you would wanna take off when you consider what time you
would arrive in the morning. So from a pure passenger preference, there are peak hours of
when you want to travel. The A380 offers the solution through picking up the most
capacity on these peak hours, and thus bringing in the
most revenue for the airline. - But no customer is more
important than Emirates, which ordered almost half
of all the A380's ordered. But why does Emirates
love the A380 so much at a time when other airlines are staying away from the super-jumbo jet? Emirates is a predominantly
long-haul international airline, whose business is built around funnelling millions of passengers
through its hub in Dubai and then on to their destinations
around the world. As a result, Emirates needs an aircraft that can carry lots of passengers
for very long distances. A perfect job for the A380. - We believe that this aircraft will be the most suitable
aircraft for us, and Emirate. And that's why we went and
signed up for a total order of 142. We needed the A380 for
our operation as our hub in Dubai grew rapidly. We have been able to use
the aircraft at the slot constrained airports like
Heathrow, JFK, and also at airports where we have full passenger
demands, such as Manchester, Dusseldorf, Prague, and also to Mauritius. - And on behalf of my
colleagues at Airbus, let me finish by offering congratulations to your highness Sheikh Ahmed,
Tim, everybody at Emirates on your 100th A380, thank you all. - I thank all the team who
have been working from Emirate and Airbus all over those years to bring such a beautiful
aircraft to this industry. Thank you. (upbeat music) - (Narrator) But few airlines use the Emirates strategy. These days the trend in the industry is to offer direct flights using smaller, long range aircraft, point to point. Instead of Emirates's dedicated
hub and spoke routes model, most airlines have moved towards more point to point flying, using
the ultra modern 787 or A350. Smaller, next generation,
composite Y bodies like the 787 Dreamliner offer
airlines more flexibility and less risk. According to the CEO
of Qantas, Alan Joyce, it costs less to operate
two 787 Dreamliners than it does to fly a single A380. The A380 super jumbo
hasn't been the game changer Airbus hoped it would be
when the idea was conceived just two decades ago. This is especially the case
on the financial front. I have flown on the A380 with
less than 100 passengers on board several times
during the low season. Who needs business class
when you have the whole row - ten seats - all to yourself on the A380? For much of the plane's
life, Airbus has struggled to find airlines willing to
put the A380 into service. With a price tag of $445.6 million, the A380 is one of the
most expensive and lavish aeroplanes ever built. Production ends with just 251 aeroplanes . Airbus has already delivered 234 A380's. Only 17 A380's are yet to be delivered. 14 are set to join Emirates, and 3 will go to Japan's All Nippon Airways. As a result, the A380 never developed into a true work horse like the 747. Instead, it has been
relegated to the position of a niche aircraft, only economically feasible on routes with heavy airport congestion. Emirates airline president, Sir Tim Clark, has for years pushed Airbus to make a more cost effective version of the plane with upgraded aerodynamics
and a new fuel efficient engine called the A380 NEO. That hasn't happened. Airbus has been reluctant
to invest the kind of money needed to develop a new version of the A380. In 2017, Airbus offered it's
customers a moderately updated version of the plane called the A380 plus. - Well there's a number of
benefits which the A380 plus brings. First of all, lower fuel burn, a four percent reduction in fuel burn. We're also adding up to 80
additional seats to the aircraft. To maintain the range we're
increasing the maximum takeoff weight by 3 tonnes, and then we've also got
benefits in terms of new systems and more efficient maintenance
and operational reliability. - (Narrator) The A380 Freighter
never came to fruition. In January 2018 Emirates
ordered 20 additional A380's that would have kept the
A380 production line moving for the next decade, however
that deal fell apart. In the end, even the
A380's most loyal customer couldn't hold on any longer. Emirates cut 39 A380's
from it's original order of 162 planes, and bought a
smaller twin engine A330 Neos, and A350's instead. Even though the A380
production ends in 2021, the planes are expected to
fly on for years to come. (aeroplane engine) Whether the A380 is a success or failure, it remains a significant
part of aviation history. I hope the A380 can remain flying in the sky for many more years to come. Have you flown on the A380 before? I would really like to hear your stories and read your comments. If you love aviation,
don't forget to check out by blog, my Instagram,
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