It was billed as the jet that would rekindle the romance of air travel and fly us to the future. Fifteen years ago today, the world’s largest passenger airliner took to the skies. Singapore Airlines’ flight SQ380 – in honour of the double-decker Airbus A380 superjumbo – took off from Changi Airport and touched down in Sydney.
The A380 was the most technologically advanced jet since the Boeing 747 took to the skies in the 1970s and the most luxurious by (air) miles. It was an instant hit. Airlines queued up to buy it and make it their flagship.
Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and Qantas added bars. Singapore boasted double beds for couples. Emirates and Etihad offered showers for first-class passengers. Etihad even created the Residence, a three-room suite that had a lounge, shower room and a bedroom, and came with its own Savoy-trained butler. It cost $22,000 from London to Abu Dhabi. One way.
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But today the leviathan, whose 270ft-long wings were made in Wales, is headed for the scrapyard. Airbus handed over its last jet to Emirates in 2021 and closed the production line at its Toulouse factory. Air France, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Korean are dumping the jet. Singapore Airlines is reducing the size of its fleet. Airbus never even recouped the €25 billion development cost.
What went wrong? The most ambitious commercial airliner since Concorde proved too bold – and badly timed.
Read more: The Telegraph
