Airbus A380 Production » MSN064

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 (#2)

Oliver Gigacz — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:01:02 +0000

To finish the week off, Here are a couple of updates from the Final Assembly Line…

MSN064 (Air France #6) – Has been completed, Just waiting for engines to be installed.
MSN065 (Singapore Airlines #13) – Has been completed, All four engines attached, Roll out very soon.
MSN070 (Lufthansa #8) – Currently in first stage of Final Assembly.

MSN071 (Singapore Airlines #14) – Has been completed, Just waiting for engines to be installed.

Image Courtesy of A380Spotter

A380 Production Update: June 2010 (#8)

Oliver Gigacz — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:52:40 +0000

As it is a slow news week, We have decided to post a small update on the frames that will roll out in the near future.

Frames in Final Assembly, Stage 1:
MSN035 (Korean Air #1): Roll out Currently Scheduled for September.
MSN069 (Lufthansa #7): Roll out Currently Scheduled for Late September.

Frames in Final Assembly, Stage 2:
MSN058 (Singapore Airlines #12): Roll out Currently Scheduled for Next Week.
MSN061 (Lufthansa #5): Will Roll out late This Week, Early Next Week.
MSN062 (Qantas #10): Will Roll out in Two Weeks.
MSN064 (Air France #6): Roll out Currently Scheduled for Late August, Early September.
MSN065 (Singapore Airlines #13): Roll out Currently Scheduled for Late June.
MSN066 (Lufthansa #6): Roll out Currently Scheduled for Late August, Early September.
MSN071 (Singapore Airlines #14): Roll out Currently Scheduled for Next Week.

A380 Production Update: May 2010 (#16)

Oliver Gigacz — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:46:28 +0000

A photo has been uploaded to flickr which is giving us a good look at what is going on in the “Stage 2″ area of Final Assembly.

The three frames that can be seen in this photo are MSN065 (Singapore Airlines #13), MSN064 (Air France #6) and MSN071 (Singapore Airlines #14). All of these frames still have quite a lot of work to go, So we won’t expect to see them on the flightline for a month or two.

We can confirm that MSN057 (Emirates #15) will be the next A380 to transfer to Hamburg, as MSN052 (Air France #5) still has part of it’s APU missing and MSN055 (Qantas #9) is missing at least one escape slide.

Images Courtesy of matze-man

A380 Production Update: April 2010 (#13)

Oliver Gigacz — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:49:20 +0000

Yesterday MSN064 (Air France #6) completed Body Join and was subsequently transferred to Final Assembly. MSN064 completed Body Join in just under a month.

The next A380 to begin Body Join will be MSN066 (Lufthansa #6) when it’s last major components are Convoyed to Toulouse late this week.

MSN048 (Lufthansa #4) successfully completed it’s first engine run on Friday. Taxi tests are scheduled to start tomorrow.

MSN033 (Air France #1) made it’s first visit to Toulouse in over 14 months. The unscheduled stop was due to Iceland’s Volcano.

All Images Courtesy of Marc Schieferdecker

A380 Production Update: March 2010 (#11)

Oliver Gigacz — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:38:04 +0000

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.

A380 Production Update: March 2010 (#9)

Oliver Gigacz — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:16:23 +0000

Yesterday saw the roll out of MSN038 (Lufthansa #1). The aircraft is now complete and fully painted. MSN038 will now be prepared for flight testing.

Convoy #5/2010 is currently scheduled to begin tonight, It will be carrying the center and rear fuselage for MSN064 (Air France #6)

A380 Production Update: March 2010 (#4)

Oliver Gigacz — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:43:07 +0000

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.

A380 Production Update: March 2010 (#3)

Oliver Gigacz — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:57:31 +0000

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.

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-