According to Airbus, serial number 272 will be the last A380 built. This aircraft will be delivered to Emirates Airlines.
Billed as the Superjumbo, many believed that the A380 would become the NEW Queen of the Skies, a title held by the Boeing 747.
The first A380 delivery was to Singapore Airlines in October 2007, and just 13 years later, the final aircraft nears completion at the purpose-built Airbus facility at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in southern France.
Comprising over four million parts from 30 different countries, the Airbus A380 is the world’s largest passenger airliner to date.
The engines will be installed next, and tests carried out on electrical and hydraulic systems, on-board computers, landing gear and moving parts.
The final tests are performed outside including fuel gauge calibration, cabin pressurization, radios, radar, navigation systems and fuel tank sealing, where after the aircraft is then prepared for its first flight to Hamburg, Germany.
Here the cabin will be installed, fitted out and the aircraft finished in the customer’s livery.
The last convoy took place in February this year, with hundreds of people turning out in the French village of Levignac to see the wings, fuselage sections and horizontal tailplane transported by truck to the Final Assembley Line (FAL).
This A380 is one of eight still scheduled for delivery to Emirates, with one more still destined for Japanese carrier ANA.
Since it was announced in 2019 that the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus were discontinuing the aircraft, more than 242 A380s have been delivered as of July 2020.
Presently there are 251 firm orders by 14 customers for the passenger version of the A380. Will the all the orders be filled? It seems not.
