Supplying The World With The Latest A380 News
MSN042 (Emirates #13) has completed it’s first engine tests and is scheduled to start taxi tests tomorrow.
Convoy #6/2010 has been announced and is scheduled to start on April 5th. The convoy will be carrying a wing pair and tailplane for MSN064 (Air France #5) plus a forward fuselage for an unknown MSN.
MSN002 (Private) has been moved back in to the hangars after spending about two weeks on the flightline, to have it’s engines installed.
Some interesting news to start the week off. MSN002 (Private) has been transferred from the refitting hangar to the flightline. The frame looks like it’s about to go into long term storage (We are yet to confirm this).
MSN002 is still scheduled for delivery in Q2/Q3 2010, This is now likely to change, So keep checking back.
MSN048 (Lufthansa #4) was rolled out of the Final Assembly Line late last week. MSN048 has been completed for a few weeks, But with a small electrical fault the roll out was delayed.
Delivery for MSN048 is currently scheduled for late Q3 2010. This will most likely slip into Q4.
MSN047 (Qantas #7) was finally moved from the flightline hangars to the flightline last week. MSN047 made it’s first flight in August last year and was put into long term storage at request from Qantas.
MSN047 will be transferred to Hamburg shortly.
The Emirates A380 behind MSN047, is MSN042, the thirteenth for the airline. MSN042 rolled out of Final Assembly two weeks ago, but only now a photo has been sent to us.
MSN028 (Emirates #10) was transferred to the Hamburg flightline last week, after completing four months of outfitting.
Image Courtesy of Phil Gallerand
Convoy #5/2010 has been announced and is scheduled to arrive in Toulouse on the 24th March. Convoy #5 will be carrying the Center and Rear Fuselage for MSN064 (Air France #6).
In our last post we mentioned that spotters in Toulouse reportedly claimed that MSN042 (Emirates #12) was on the flightline. We can now confirm this is true and that MSN042 is complete.
The roll out of MSN042 is a surprise to us as MSN042 arrived in Toulouse after MSN048 (Lufthansa #4) and MSN052 (Air France #5). We are unsure if Emirates requested that MSN042 be put ahead of MSN048 and MSN052, or if there were delays in the production of MSN048 and MSN052.
MSN048 is on target to be rolled out late this week.
Last Thursday night MSN057 (Emirates #15) reentered Final Assembly after a months stay on the flightline waiting for MSN042 to be completed.
Convoy #4/2010 has arrived in Toulouse bringing a Center and Rear Fuselage for MSN071 (Singapore Airlines #14). A tail plane, also for MSN071 arrived with the convoy.
Convoy #4 also carried a Forward Fuselage and a Wing Pair for MSN064 (Air France #6).
This is a surprise to us as MSN066 (Lufthansa #6) and MSN031 (China Southern #1) were both scheduled to be convoyed ahead of MSN064.
In other A380 news, the roll out of MSN047 (Qantas #07), MSN048 (Lufthansa #4) and MSN052 (Air France #5) has been delayed into this week.
Several spotters have reported that MSN042 (Emirates #13) is on the flightline. We cannot confirm or deny this at this stage.
MSN043 (Air France #3) will begin cabin test flights in Hamburg this week. MSN043 is currently scheduled to be delivered later in the month.
MSN051 (Singapore Airlines #11) will also start cabin test flights soon. Test flights will probably start late this week or early next week.
March is here (Already) so we thought it would be a good idea to give you an overview of the current production line. So here it is…
Toulouse Production:
MSN002 (Private) – Currently in Refitting Hangar.
MSN042 (Emirates #13) – In Second Second Stage of Final Assembly and is Scheduled to Be Rolled Out in late March.
MSN047 (Qantas #7) – Engines Have Been Re Installed and Should Roll Out this week.
MSN048 (Lufthansa #4) – Completed and will be Rolled Out this week.
MSN050 (Qantas #8) – Being Stored in a Flightline Hangar until May.
MSN052 (Air France #5) – Completed and will be Rolled Out this week.
MSN055 (Qantas #9) – First Stage of Final Assembly. Parts of Final Assembly Will be done in a Flightline Hangar.
MSN056 (Emirates #14) – Second Stage of Final Assembly.
MSN057 (Emirates #15) – Waiting for slot in Second Stage of Final Assembly.
MSN058 (Singapore Airlines #12) – Waiting for Slot in First Stage of Final Assembly.
MSN061 (Lufthansa #5) – First Stage of Final Assembly.
MSN062 (Qantas #10) – First Stage of Final Assembly.
MSN065 (Singapore Airlines #13) – Body Join has Begun and is Scheduled to take 10 days.
Hamburg Production:
MSN009 (Emirates #9) – Delivery Scheduled for May.
MSN028 (Emirates #10) – Delivery Scheduled for June.
MSN030 (Emirates #11) – Delivery Scheduled for July.
MSN038 (Lufthansa #1) – Delivery Scheduled for 10th May.
MSN041 (Lufthansa #2) – Delivery Scheduled for June.
MSN043 (Air France #3) – Delivery Scheduled for April.
MSN044 (Lufthansa #3) – Delivery Scheduled for Q3 2010.
MSN046 (Emirates #12) – Delivery Scheduled for August.
MSN049 (AIr France #4) – Delivery Scheduled for Q3 2010,
MSN051 (Singapore Airlines #11) – Delivery Scheduled for Late March.
Convoy’s:
The next new frames to be Convoyed to Toulouse are scheduled to be.
MSN031 (China Southern #1)
MSN066 (Lufthansa #6)
MSN069 (Lufthansa #7)
MSN035 (Korean Air #1)
First Stage of Final Assembly = Installation of Electronic Components that Control the Aircraft and Installation of Fuel Tanks.
Second Stage of Final Assembly = Installation of Engines, Belly Fairing and all other Facilities in and outside the Aircraft.
Roll Out = Moved from the Final Assembly Line to the Flightline.
MSN057 (Emirates #15) has finished it’s first part of Final Assembly which included having The flaps installed, Some Belly Fairing, the APU and many “Under the Hood” parts.
MSN057 is currently sitting on the flightline waiting to switch spaces with MSN048 (Lufthansa #4). MSN048 should be rolled out of the Final Assembly Line late this week.
The final parts for MSN057 arrived in Toulouse on the 12th November and has only taken 92 days to get to this stage. This is a dramatic increase in time for Body Join and the first stages of Final Assembly.
This also means the production in Toulouse is speeding up but over in Hamburg, Outfitting is staying very much the same.
We expect by late April that MSN042 (Emirates), MSN047 (Qantas), MSN050 (Qantas), MSN052 (Air France) and possibly MSN056 (Emirates) to be completed.
But at the same time all the Outfitting slots in Hamburg will be already be occupied by…
MSN030 (Emirates), MSN041 (Lufthansa), MSN044 (Lufthansa), MSN046 (Emirates) MSN048 (Lufthansa) and MSN049 (Air France).
This means that Outfitting must be dramatically increased to get the twenty odd scheduled A380s for 2010 delivery to actually being delivered this year.
Another one of our forum members has visited Toulouse and has done the A380 factory tour. Here is the report.
MSN056 (Emirates #14)
Stand L55 (30-A)
Pylons installed.
No APU and no Belly Fairings.
MSN052 (Air France #5)
Stand L53 (30-B)
No Engines Installed and None Noticed Around
APU and Engine pylons installed, no belly fairing yet.
HF-and VOR-antennas seem to be installed, aswell as the camera inside the Vertical tail plane.
MSN042 (Emirates #13)
Stand L51 (30-C)
All flaps and slats seem to be installed.
Engine Pylons installed. But no Engines
No APU and no Belly fairings yet.
Vertical tail plane looks untouched, So HF and VOR-antennas might be missing aswell as the Camera.
MSN041 (Lufthansa #2) was not seen which means it should now in Hamburg for outfitting.
Convoy #2 was spotted eariler today and we can glady confirm that the forward fuselage is MSN065 (Singapore Airlines #13). The other pieces of the convoy are for MSN058 (Singapore Airlines #12).
