Tecnics

On the birth of a giant firms are titanic

The Airbus A380 manufactured by Airbus Industries, is an airliner quadrireattore double-deck, capable of carrying 853 persons or 525 version in the typical charter three-class configuration. The first test flight occurred on April 27, 2005. The first delivery took place on October 15, 2007 the airline Singapore Airlines ^[1], on 25 October has created the first commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney. The ticket for this flight and costs from $ 535 to $ 100,000 for suites and mini suites. The A380, known for many years during its development phase as the Airbus A3XX, is the largest airliner in the world with a substantial edge over rivals. Launch customers include Lufthansa, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Air France, Qantas, Virgin Atlantic, Korean Air, Qatar Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways International, British Airways and International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC). In July 2004, Etihad Airways bought four Airbus A380 for delivery in 2007, at the same time the first A380 prototypes began to be built into the assembly plant in Toulouse. The A380 was presented at a ceremony in Toulouse on January 18, 2005. The apparatus which was unveiled in the French factory was called MSN 001 ( “Manufacturer’s Serial No. 001 “) and registered as F-WWOW. After the first tests with the only crew on September 4, 2006 took off from Toulouse on first flight with passengers on board with the aim of testing the comfort conditions inside the plane. The 474 passengers “guinea pigs” are Airbus employees who had volunteered. This first simulation of a scheduled flight, arriving at the same airport of Toulouse, lasted about seven hours.

Various stages of development of an Airplane

In the years prior to the decision to begin the project, both Airbus that its main competitor, Boeing, have made many efforts to assess the market for large airliners. While both manufacturers have made conflicting statements from time to time, the clear but unspoken consensus was that there was probably room for only one manufacturer, if you wanted to profit from the aircraft segment with 600/800 seats, but not both. Both manufacturers were aware of the business risk by dividing up a market niche provided by the simultaneous debut of the Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011Tristar: Trimotor of similar size that would have benefited from the market area available between the Douglas DC – 8 and the Boeing 747, only if the contestant had not taken half the market. Having seen first Lockheed Corporation and Douglas then addressed the financial difficulties and therefore be forced out of the air transport industry, Airbus and Boeing were very conscious that the decision to build a 600 seat airliner could not be taken lightly. Airbus Boeing approach beginning with an offer to jointly develop the aircraft, but Boeing declined the invitation. Boeing may have feared that a plane the biggest threats of the sales of its 747.

Neither manufacturer could afford the huge costs of developing a completely new aircraft, especially the size of an A380, unless there was a reasonable expectation of having exclusive access to that market segment – and neither could afford to not to develop a 600 seat if the other you had given up. Doing nothing would mean surrender leadership of the market to competition.

The initial advantage was on the side of Boeing. The 747, though designed in the sixties, had been kept up to date and was larger than the biggest jets from Airbus, the A340. For many airlines, the big “size” of the 747 aircraft made a purchase obligation for the routes with the highest density, cost and benefits data from the fleet flagship had an incentive to buy Boeing also smaller. There was room to stretch the 747-400 and maintain a reasonable cost seats / distance, while the A340, the A340-600 version, had reached its upper limit.

Equipment and Configurations

The new Airbus had originally planned in two versions: the A380-800 capable of carrying 525 passengers when configured with 3 standard classes for 15.200 kilometers, and the A380-800F cargo, capable of carrying 150 tons of cargo for 10.400 kilometers . However, because of the difficulties and delays that occurred during production of the first copies of the passenger version, the development of the freighter version was first delayed and then suspended with consequent cancellation of orders by traders who had made (UPS and FedEx).

Ward propulsive

The power is supplied to choose from, or Rolls Royce Trent 900 Engine Alliance GP7200 turbofans. Starting from a position initially strong, winner of the competition starting the engine, the Rolls-Royce Trent has been relegated to second position by the GP7200. While the Engine Alliance and Rolls-Royce won an equal number of races, the consortium GE / PW has a larger market due to the number of A380s ordered by their customers.

Cockpit – Flight Deck

The A380 is flown by 2 pilots. The cabin contains bunks for the crew, including the exchange for the captain and first officer on longer flights. Airbus intends to continue its policy of making the proven design of the cabin, procedures and management features, the most similar as possible between all of its planes: it reduces costs and increases crew training and safety (as The crew must learn only one set of procedures for different types of aircraft).

Technical Specifications

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