A380 passenger plane broke the record of Boeing 747 flying for 35 years and became the largest civil aircraft in the world. However, the largest civil aircraft is still the An -225 Dreamliner made by Antonov, Ukraine.
The A380 is also the first passenger plane with four passenger passages. The typical seating arrangement is "2+4+2" on the upper floor and "3+4+3" on the lower floor.
Airbus began the research and development plan of super-large passenger aircraft in the early 1990s, aiming at improving the Airbus model and filling the gap of super-large passenger aircraft, and also hoping to break the monopoly of Boeing 747 in the super-large passenger aircraft market. McDonnell Douglas has a similar strategy, and launched the MD- 12 plan, but it ended in failure. Every aircraft manufacturer hopes to produce a successor to the 747, but they all understand that if they want to make a profit, the market of 600-800 passenger planes can only accommodate one type of aircraft. In the past, Douglas DC- 10 and Roche L-1KLOC-0/13-star passenger aircraft have proved the risk of dividing up these small markets. 1993 On June 5438+ 10, Boeing and several Airbus partner aircraft manufacturers began to study the feasibility of VLCT, with the goal of cooperative construction.
1In June 1994, Airbus began to develop its own super-large aircraft, named A3XX. Airbus has considered several options, including merging two groups of Airbus A340 aircraft into one fuselage, which was the largest model of Airbus at that time. A3XX will compete with VLCT and —747X, the successor of Boeing 747, which will lengthen the upper cabin of Boeing 747 to accommodate more passengers. The VLCT plan was terminated in July 1996, and Boeing also stopped the 747X plan in July 1997 10. However, it was repeatedly mentioned before the launch of the 747X project in 2005 10. 1997-2000 The Asian financial crisis led to uncertain market prospects. Compared with Boeing 747-400, Airbus can save 15% to 20% of operating costs by modifying the design.
On June 5438+February 65438+February 09, 2000, the newly reorganized Airbus management voted to invest 8.8 billion euros in the A3XX project and named it A380. At that time, six airlines had ordered 55 A380s. The A380 was formally finalized at the beginning of 20001,and the construction of the first batch of A380 wings began on 23 October 20021. All parts of the prototype have been produced and transported to Airbus's factory in Toulouse, France for final assembly. When the first A380 left the factory, the planned development cost had soared to 1 1 billion euros.
At present, there are three models of A380:
A380-800: passenger plane, which can carry 555 passengers in the third class or 853 passengers in a single economy class, with a range of 15200 km (8200 nautical miles).
A380-800F: freight type, cargo capacity 150 metric tons, voyage 10400 km (5600 nautical miles). Airbus announced that research and development will be introduced when the A380-800 reaches the delivery volume of more than 40 aircraft/year.
The A380-900 is also an extension of the A380. The third class can carry 656 passengers, and a single economy class can carry 960 passengers. Like A380F, when A380-800 is delivered over 40 aircraft/year, R&D work will be introduced. At present, many airlines have expressed their interest in this type of aircraft, and Singapore Airlines is considering changing the last nine planes of 19 A380-800 to A380-900 (not put into production).
A380- 1000 passenger aircraft is also an extension of A380-900. The third class can carry 856 passengers, and a single economy class can carry 1760 passengers.