Airbus A380 Production » MSN056

A380 Production Update: May 2010 (#14)

Oliver Gigacz — Thu, 27 May 2010 01:39:27 +0000

This week has seen the roll out of three A380′s from the Final Assembly Line. This is great news, as the previous roll out (MSN056) was almost two months ago.

MSN052 (Air France #5) is one of the three, and was rolled out early in week. Earlier this year MSN052 was put into short term storage at the request of Air France. But now she is back on track.

Also rolling out this week, was MSN057 (Emirates #15). If you can remember earlier in the year MSN057 spent a few weeks on the flightline, while waiting for a spot in second stage Final Assembly.

And last but not least, MSN055 (Qantas #9) which was rolled out late yesterday evening.

MSN055 is the frame on the right.

All Images are Courtesy of DigitalAirliners.com
P.S. There will be more detailed information on each of these frames next week.

A380 Production Update: May 2010 (#10)

Oliver Gigacz — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:08:43 +0000

MSN070 (Lufthansa #8) has been confirmed as the new frame being delivered on Convoy #9/2010. The tailplane, Wing Pair and Forward and Rear Fuselage are being carried on the Convoy. The center fuselage will arrive on Convoy #10 in early June.

In our last post we mentioned that yesterday MSN056 (Emirates #14) was transferred to Hamburg for Outfitting. We forgot to mention that this was also her first flight.

Image Courtesy of Forum Member sprocky

A380 Production Update: May 2010 (#9)

Oliver Gigacz — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:49:43 +0000

This week will mark the entry of the fifth airline to utilize the A380, With Lufthansa scheduled to receive their first (MSN038) on May 19th.

Lufthansa will start taking paying passengers on June 11th on the Frankfurt to Tokyo route.

Today, MSN056 (Emirates #14) was transferred to Hamburg for Outfitting and Painting. Delivery is currently scheduled for October.

MSN047 (Qantas #7) is also scheduled to make it’s ferry flight to Hamburg today, But this is likely to change to Wednesday or Thursday.

Image Courtesy of Christoph Meyer

A380 Production Update: May 2010 (#8)

Oliver Gigacz — Sat, 15 May 2010 06:49:59 +0000

A lot of people have been asking on the forum about the delivery dates for certain frames, So to quickly answer all those questions here are the delivery dates that we know of.

MSN041 (Lufthansa #2) – June 2010
MSN030 (Emirates #11) – July 2010
MSN044 (Lufthansa #3) – July 2010
MSN046 (Emirates #12) – August 2010
MSN042 (Emirates #13) – September 2010
MSN049 (Air France #4) – September 2010
MSN048 (Lufthansa #4) – October 2010
MSN056 (Emirates #14) – October 2010
MSN047 (Qantas #7) – November 2010
MSN057 (Emirates #15) – December 2010
MSN050 (Qantas #8) – January 2011
MSN055 (Qantas #9) – January 2011
MSN061 (Lufthansa #5) – January 2011

All Dates are Subject to Change

(The delivery dates for MSN035, MSN052, MSN058, MSN062, MSN064, MSN065, MSN066, MSN069, MSN071 will be posted soon)

A380 Production Update: May 2010 (#4)

Oliver Gigacz — Sun, 09 May 2010 13:59:02 +0000

MSN056 (Emirates #14) has begun taxi testing and is scheduled to make her first flight this week. It is unknown if she will be transferred to Hamburg or if she will stay in Toulouse, Waiting for a spot to open up in Outfitting.

If MSN056 was to transfer this week, MSN047 (Qantas #7) will have to wait even longer before she begins Outfitting.

Image Courtesy of Christophe RAMOS

A380 Production Update: April 2010 (#4)

Oliver Gigacz — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:53:07 +0000

Last night I received an email from an insider at Airbus, giving us first and ferry flight details the next few A380s. (All dates are subject to change)

MSN047 (Qantas #7) – Ferry Flight – April 15th
MSN048 (Lufthansa #4) – First Flight – April 15th – Ferry Flight – April 21st
MSN056 (Emirates #14) – First Flight – April 23rd – Ferry Flight – April 29th
MSN057 (Emirates #15) – First Flight – May 25th – Ferry Flight – June 3rd
MSN052 (Air France #5) – First Flight – August 9th – Ferry Flight – September 27th

Convoy #6/2010 began late last night and is on schedule to arrive in Toulouse early on April 8th.

A380 Production Update: April 2010 (#2)

Oliver Gigacz — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:45:15 +0000

To finish off the week, a surprise. MSN056 (Emirates #14) has finished Final Assembly and is now situated on the flightline next to MSN047 (Qantas #7). This really was a real surprise to us, as we thought MSN052 (Air France #5) would be completed first. This makes two A380s to jump ahead of MSN052, the first being MSN042 (Emirates #13).

MSN056 can be seen behind MSN047.

MSN048 (Lufthansa #4) is now going through final checks, prior to it’s first engine run late next week.

We mentioned in our last post, That MSN002 (Private) is to be stored on the flightline until 2012. Well due the large number of A380s already on the flightline, MSN002 has been transferred to a hangar.

Images Courtesy of DigitalAirliners

A380 Production Update: March 2010 (#5)

Oliver Gigacz — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:57:11 +0000

This week is looking to be a very quiet week. So for the moment we will be posting an production update from the Toulouse line.

MSN047 (Qantas #7) will roll out on Tuesday.
MSN048 (Lufthansa #4) is complete and will roll out late this week.
MSN050 (Qantas #9) is still on scheduled to roll out in early April.
MSN052 (Air France #5) is scheduled to roll out late this week or early next week.
MSN056 (Emirates #14) is scheduled to roll out in late April.
MSN057 (Emirates #15) is scheduled to roll out in the middle of June.
MSN071 (Singapore Airlines #14) will start body join on Wednesday.

A380 Production Update: March 2010 (#1)

Oliver Gigacz — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:08:52 +0000

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.

A380 Production Update: February 2010 (#7)

Oliver Gigacz — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:17:03 +0000

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.