Airbus A380 Production » MSN027

A380 Production Update: December 2009 (#18)

Oliver Gigacz — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:02:23 +0000

MSN042 (Emirates #13) has finally entered Final Assembly after several weeks on the flightline. You can see a picture of the flightline below and you can only see MSN052 (Air France #5) and MSN041 (Lufthansa #2).

MSN057 (Emirates #15) has finished body join and will soon be transfered to Final Assembly. MSN061 (Lufthansa #5) will take MSN057′s spot in body join after Christmas.

MSN027 (Qantas #5) was supposed to arrive in Sydney from Toulouse (via Singapore) on Sunday night, but was delayed in Singapore and due to Sydney Airports curfew it was delivered in Melbourne. This is the first delivery of an Airbus A380 in Melbourne. Melbourne airport usually gets deliveries of Qantas’s Boeing B737s and Airbus A330s.

A380 Production Update: December 2009 (#17)

Oliver Gigacz — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:53:48 +0000

MSN027 (Qantas #5) has been delivered to the airline will arrive in Sydney on Monday.

A380 Production Update: December 2009 (#10)

Oliver Gigacz — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:26:13 +0000

A surprise to us today was that MSN052 (Air France #5) has turned up on the flightline and is looking much the same as MSN042 (Emirates #13). It looks like she has just finished body join and awaiting a spot in the Final Assembly Line. So we now have two A380s waiting for spots in the FAL.

There is one space free in the FAL at the moment and another to open up shortly when MSN046 (Emirates #11) is transferred to the flightline.

There is another possibility that MSN056 (Emirates #14) has taken MSN041′s (Lufthansa #2 – On Flightline) spot in the FAL which would mean that either MSN042 or MSN052 will have to wait for MSN049 (Air France #4) to exit the FAL which is not scheduled until January/February.

We we will have more info on the MSN052 matter in the next 24 hours so stay tuned.

In other news with MSN027 (Qantas #5) will be delivered either Friday or Saturday.

A380 Production Update: December 2009 (#3)

Oliver Gigacz — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:39:03 +0000

MSN027 (Qantas) has started it’s final flight testing prior to delivery in the next few weeks. She will be joined by sister aircraft (MSN029) later next week.

Image Courtesy of jacquesaero

A380 Production Update: December 2009 (#2)

Oliver Gigacz — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:37:29 +0000

BREAKING NEWS: Airbus to deliver only 11 A380s this year.

Airbus will deliver only 11 A380s this year as MSN040 (Air France) has been delayed into January. MSN040 would have been the 12th frame delivered this year but with its delay only 11 will be delivered. Airbus has already delivered 7 of the 11 scheduled and has four remaining frames to deliver to make the scheduled 11. With only 11 delivered Airbus will deliver one less then what they delivered last year.

The remaining framers are MSN007 and MSN023 for Emirates and MSN027 and MSN029 for Qantas.

This is the latest photograph of MSN040 taken in mid September

A380 Production Update: November 2009 (#19)

Oliver Gigacz — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:42:25 +0000

Airbus is trying to keep MSN007 and MSN023 (Emirates) on track for a 2009 delivery but there has been some onboard system problems. The latest Airbus schedule still states a December delivery for both, But Airbus is fearing they might slip into 2010.

MSN027 (Qantas) has arrived back in Toulouse for a final check prior to delivery in mid December.

Our forum member UK380 has once again visited the Hamburg production line there are some interesting entries. Here is the list of MSN parts that were seen.

MSN035 (Korean Air) – Center Fuselage + Empannage
MSN039 (Korean Air) – Rear Fuselage
MSN055 (Qantas) – Center Fuselage
MSN058 (Singapore Airlines) – Empannage
MSN062 (Qantas) – Foward Nose
MSN064 (Air France) – Empannage
MSN065 (Singapore Airlines) – Empannage
MSN066 (Lufthansa) – Empannage
MSN069 (Lufthansa) – Empannage
MSN070 (Lufthansa) Empannage
MSN071 (Singapore Airlines) – Empannage
MSN072 (Lufthansa) Empannage

In other Hamburg news, MSN040 (Air France) still has not come out of the hangars but should at the start of next week.

Image Courtesty of Irvine-

A380 Production Update: November 2009 (#16)

Oliver Gigacz — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:57:06 +0000

MSN027 for Qantas performed taxi tests yesterday prior to it’s rejected take off scheduled for tomorrow. MSN027 will then ferry to Toulouse on the 26th November (local time).

Yesterday also sore the roll out of MSN029 also for Qantas. This only leaves MSN040 for Air France left to roll out for 2009 deliveries. (Now there has been some reports of MSN040 slipping into 2010, We can not confirm this so dont take it to heart yet)

MSN027 is scheduled for delivery in mid December while MSN029 is scheduled for late December.

Lufthansa confirmed this week that it will not be taking MSN038 (1st A380) in March but in late May 2010. Lufthansa spokesperson also said that they will begin operations with two A380s.

A380 Production Update: November 2009 (#12)

Oliver Gigacz — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:04:27 +0000

Well another A380 has rolled out of the Outfitting hangers in Hamburg. This time it is MSN027 for Qantas. This makes it the third roll out this week (MSN007 and MSN023 Being the Previous). This only leaves MSN029 (Qantas) and MSN040 (Air France) the only remaining scheduled 2009 delivery aircraft to roll out.

A380 Production Update: November 2009 (#11)

Oliver Gigacz — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:01:24 +0000

Well as MSN007 (Emirates) rolls out of the Outfitting hangers, MSN023 (Emirates) has also rolled out. Both MSN007 and MSN023 are scheduled for delivery in mid December. You can see them both in the picture below.

There have been some rumors that MSN027 and MSN029 have been delayed until February. We cannot confirm or deny this but we are still thinking a 2009 delivery.

A380 Production Update: November 2009 (#8)

Oliver Gigacz — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:19:35 +0000

Well its getting to the last deliveries of 2009 and it is going to be very busy. We have delivery of MSN007, MSN023, MSN025 (Emirates – Still Unsure), MSN027, MSN029 (Qantas) and MSN040 (Air France). MSN007 and MSN027 in the last few days have been sending ACARS messages but we are still to confirm if they are on the flightline. The rest of them will have to be put on the flightline very soon. So spotters in Hamburg will be very happy.

We are unsure if MSN007 will be the first to be delivered but it is the only one with a confirmed date.

MSN027 and MSN029 will be ferried to Toulouse for delivery and the rest will be delivered from Hamburg.

Back in Toulouse, and it has been looking the same for over three weeks now with MSN030 (Emirates) the only one on the flightline. This is a first for a longtime on the A380 flightline with only one production frame there. We have all been waiting for the roll out of MSN041 (Lufthansa) and MSN046 (Emirates) but yet no movement. But there dates for first flight (Mid December) have not changed for a while. We have feared they will be moved into 2010 like MSN030.