The first Airbus A380 performed its maiden flight on April 27, 2005, just over three months after rolling out of the manufacturer’s plant at Toulouse Blagnac International Airport on January 18, 2005.
The “Superjumbo”, registered F-WWOW and powered by Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines, took-off at 10:29 local time (8:29 GMT) and landed thee hours and 54 minutes later at 14:23 local time (12:23 GMT). The pilots-in-command were Claude Lelaie, Senior Vice President Flight Division, and Jacques Rosay, Chief Test Pilot and Vice President.
15 years later, most of the A380s are grounded due to the Covid-19 crisis.
- Air France grounded its entire A380 fleet in Tarbes and Teruel.
- Singapore Airlines sent 4 A380s to Australia.
- British Airways sent it’s entire A380 fleet to France
- Lufthansa is grounding its entire A380 fleet
- Qantas is grounding its entire A380 fleet
But more than that, several airlines already scheduled the retirement of their A380s:
- Singapore Airlines got rid of two A380s. One has already been scrapped.
- Lufthansa plans already scheduled the sale of six A380s to Airbus in 2022.
- Air France already planned the retirement of its Airbus A380 fleet by 2022Air France A380 F-HPJB was returned to the lessor after a full repainting and flew to Knock to be scrapped.
Airbus announced the shut down of A380 program in 2021.
The final Airbus A380 convoy arrived to the Airbus A380 Final Assembly Line in the Jean-Luc Lagardere plant at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport.