Airbus A380 Production » 2011

A380 Production Update: July 2010 (#16)

Oliver Gigacz — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:45:50 +0000

Thursday saw the roll out Air France’s sixth A380 (MSN064).

MSN064 took four months to complete Final Assembly with all major componets arriving in Toulouse by late March. First flight is currently scheduled for early September. Delivery to Air France will be in Q2 2011.

Today, Lufthansa’s fifth A380 (MSN061) will perform her first flight, after a months long stay on the Toulouse flightline.

Image Courtesy of Schiefi

A380 Production Update: July 2010 (#15)

Oliver Gigacz — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:20:24 +0000

Airbus has posted the dates and times for Convoy #14/2010. August 16th at 22:00 will be the time of departure, with an arrival into Toulouse on August 18th at 03:00.

On board the Convoy will the center fuselage for MSN059 (Korean Air #3) and a forward and rear fuselage for a yet unknown MSN.

All times are local.

A380 Production Update: July 2010 (#13)

Oliver Gigacz — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:51:04 +0000

Late last week, Airbus moved MSN002 (Prince Alwaleed) back into the flightline hangars and began preparations for refurbishment.

She will be completed and ready to fly by June 2011.

Image Courtesy of DigitalAirliners

A380 Production Update: July 2010 (#12)

Oliver Gigacz — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:17:01 +0000

Several aviation forums are reporting that Emirates will be suspending A380 deliveries in 2011. We cannot yet confirm or deny this, but current production schedules still state that the airline will receive three A380s in Q3/Q4 2011 (MSN060, MSN077 and MSN080).

If Emirates were to suspend deliveries this would halt the airline deploying the A380 on key routes such as Dubai to Melbourne and Dubai to Singapore.

Over in Toulouse, Singapore Airlines twelfth A380 (MSN058) has successfully performed her first flight. This also happened to be her ferry flight to Hamburg for cabin outfitting.

Image Courtesy of Schiefi

A380 Production Update: July 2010 (#11)

Oliver Gigacz — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 06:27:28 +0000

Singapore Airlines twelfth A380 (MSN058) has begun taxi tests, following successful engines runs earlier in the week.

First flight is likely to occur on Friday.

Image Courtesy of Jaques Meursault

A380 Production Update: July 2010 (#8)

Oliver Gigacz — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:42:30 +0000

Just a quick update to finish the week off:

Qantas’s ninth A380 (MSN055) finally made it’s first flight yesterday, after a long seven week wait on the flightline.

MSN055 is now in Hamburg and will soon be towed to an outfitting hangar.

Image Courtesy of matze-man

A380 Production Update: July 2010 (#7)

Oliver Gigacz — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:37:12 +0000

We mentioned in our previous post that Qantas’s ninth A380 (MSN055) was scheduled to make it’s first flight on July 12th. Just after we posted this Airbus changed the schedule saying first flight had been delayed until July 14.

Here is MSN055 performing a taxi run late yesterday evening.

Airbus have announced that Lufthansa’s second A380 (MSN041) will be delivered on July 16.

Image Courtesy of Yvan Panas

A380 Production Update: July 2010 (#6)

Oliver Gigacz — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:13:08 +0000

Yesterday, Qantas’s ninth A380 (MSN055) performed her first engine tests after a near one and a half month wait on the flightline.

First flight is scheduled for July 12th. Her first flight will also be her ferry flight to Hamburg.

Image Courtesy of matze-man

A380 Production Update: July 2010 (#4)

Oliver Gigacz — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:20:03 +0000

Well this is a turn for the books, The new frame that is being carried on Convoy #12/2010 has been confirmed as the third A380 for Korean Air (MSN059).

All but the center fuselage will be carried on the Convoy. Airbus have told us that Convoys will not be stopping during the summer holidays.

Over in Toulouse, Airbus have rolled out Singapore Airlines thirteenth A380 (MSN065) from the Final Assembly Line.

Images Courtesy of Aranes380 and David BARRIE

A380 Production Update: July 2010 (#3)

Oliver Gigacz — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:01:11 +0000

Late last week, Emirates eleventh A380 (MSN030) was delivered to the airline at a ceremony in Toulouse.

This now makes Emirates the largest operator of the A380 with eleven SuperJumbo’s in its fleet, while Singapore Airlines has ten, Qantas has six, Air France has three and Lufthansa has one.

Late last week also saw the return of MSN052 (Air France #5) to the flightline. MSN052 had been spending the last month or two in the flightline hangars where she had some Final Assembly work done.

Images Courtesy of Jean-Claude MAURAN and David BARRIE