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On its 15th birthday, the Airbus A380 is facing retirement:
Big, burly and a bit bulbous, the Airbus A380 has never been the sleekest airliner in the skies. I'm not disputing that it's an engineering achievement, because it certainly is. The largest commercial aircraft ever to fly, it delivers a supremely smooth and quiet ride for passengers. On my first A380 flight, five years ago, it felt like we were hovering noiselessly as the British Airways giant descended over San Francisco Bay. It took the San Mateo Bridge flashing by my window to remind me that, yes, we were actually moving.
It's just that from the outside, the double-decker Airbus A380 looks like, well... a bus. Enormous? Yes, Powerful? Absolutely. Elegant? Not so much. One snarkier nickname for it is "the flying forehead." But even so, I respect what the superjumbo represents and I'll eagerly wish it a happy birthday. Fifteen years ago today, April 27, the A380 flew for the first time. Since then, it's been a hit with passengers, even if its commercial success hasn't been what Airbus originally hoped. There's nothing like it in the sky today, and as Airbus winds down production completely by 2021, hastened by the coronavirus pandemic, there never will be again.
[...] The coronavirus pandemic has now grounded almost all A380s in service, but the end of the program came in February 2019 when Airbus announced it would stop A380 production and deliver the last aircraft by 2021. "Today's announcement is painful for us and the A380 communities worldwide," Airbus CEO Tom Enders said in a release at the time. "But, keep in mind that A380s will still roam the skies for many years to come and Airbus will of course continue to fully support the A380 operators." Around the same time, the first two A380s were scrapped for parts after flying for only a decade. Ten years is an incredibly short life for an aircraft -- it's not unusual to fly on planes more than twice that age.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Tuesday April 28 2020, @09:45PM (3 children)
The biggest question it helped answer was "What is the optimal size for a passenger jet?", and it's plainly "less than this". Aside from the fact that many airports couldn't handle it, and some had to be expanded, most airlines just couldn't fill the seats often enough.
I hate to fly, but a ride on this monster might persuade me to hop on board one more time. I've watched some videos where it's so quiet that you hear background noises. I'm given to understand that some people actually found it to be *too* quiet.
What the Concorde was for speed, the A380 seems to be for comfort--a masterpiece that was destined to fail due to economics.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2020, @09:52PM
> I've watched some videos where it's so quiet that you hear background noises.
I hate to fly too, the noise (or something) always used to cause a couple of days of fatigue. Then I started using ear plugs--made a huge difference for me, I arrive feeling fairly normal.
Now, if there was something that blocked out the security theater, I'd be all set!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 29 2020, @07:20AM (1 child)
>...destined to fail due to economics...
This is why we can't have nice things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 29 2020, @01:48PM
Anything good goes out of the market -- saying of a wise old friend. If you see something you like that is well done, well made, well designed...then *buy* *it* *now*. Soon it will be copied and the lower price copies will drive the original out of the market, because the mass of people buy on price not quality.