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Airbus A380 Development

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Emirates Orders 32 More Airbus A380s

 

June 8, 2010

 

Dubai's Emirates, the Arab world's largest airline, has placed an USD$11 billion order for 32 Airbus A380 jets, the biggest ever for the company's superjumbo passenger plane.

 

The vote of confidence came as EADS prepared to show off the capabilities of its embattled A400M military transporter plane at the Berlin Air Show, and as it faces a simmering dispute with German military bosses over problems with two of its new helicopters.

 

Emirates' order would be worth USD$11.09 billion at a list price of USD$346.5 million per plane and brings the airline's total A380 order to 90 planes.

 

Emirates became Dubai's flagship company and one of the biggest contributors to the local economy after the property crisis devastated real estate firms. The government-owned group expects to earn USD$1.16 billion in 2010.

 

The carrier, which started in 1985 with two planes, has grown to rival the likes of Qantas and Singapore Airlines for passenger traffic between Europe and east Asia.

 

The order made for a splash start to the Berlin show, a biennial event that tends to be overshadowed by larger events and larger orders elsewhere.

 

It was big enough to attract the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, even as she came under fire from the rest of the global aviation industry for proposing a new passenger tax.

 

Just as Emirates announced the order, a giant A400M buzzed the show, demonstrating its aerobatic abilities.

 

The A400M European troop transporter was built to provide much-needed airlift to seven European NATO nations but is four years late and almost EUR€8 billion over budget.

 

The buyers -- Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey -- set a provisional EUR€3.5 billion bailout in March but the deal has yet to be formalised as budget problems spread in Europe.

 

Watched by Merkel, whose government has severely criticised Airbus over the delays, the aircraft performed a series of acrobatic stunts and steep banking turns on its maiden public display. It is expected to enter service in 2013.

 

EADS said last week the two planes in testing were working well and two more test planes should go into service this year.

 

Airbus chief Tom Enders told an industry dinner packed with airline CEOs on Monday night he would gladly sell any of them an A400M -- drawing laughs but no obvious takers.

 

(Reuters)

 

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ILA: Emirates orders 32 more Airbus A380s

 

Middle Eastern carrier Emirates has ordered another 32 Airbus A380s, the single biggest deal for the type.

 

The Dubai-based carrier confirmed the agreement at the ILA Berlin Air Show today.

 

Airbus says the orders are firm, and take its overall A380 customer total to 234 jets.

 

Emirates' current A380 fleet is fitted with Engine Alliance GP7200 powerplants.

 

Its decision brings to 90 the number of A380s it has on order, by far the highest commitment by a single customer.

 

Airbus chief Tom Enders says the agreement was reached "less than 24 hours ago". The deal is worth $11.5 billion at list prices.

 

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Emirates to have 90 A380s in 2017

 

Emirates is to take delivery of all 90 of its Airbus A380s by 2017, confirming that the additional 32 ordered today will not be replacements for earlier aircraft.

 

The Dubai-based carrier's president, Tim Clark, also says that the jets will be fitted with Engine Alliance GP7200 powerplants, in line with the 58 A380s it previously ordered.

 

Speaking during the ILA Berlin Air Show, Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said the jets would all be delivered by 2017.

 

"Our latest commitement signals Emirates' confidence in the growth to come in a thriving aviation sector," he adds.

 

The airline took its first A380 in 2008 and says it would not retire these early airframes before 2020. None of the additional 32 jets would be needed for replacement, it states.

 

Airbus is working to ramp-up production of the type, after battling to smooth the workflow. Chief executive Tom Enders says the first available production slot is in 2015.

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Rolls-Royce celebrates first run of latest Trent engine

 

Friday, 18 June 2010

Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has celebrated the first run of the Trent XWB, the latest member of its Trent® aero engine family.

 

The Trent XWB, the fastest-selling Trent engine programme ever, with more than 1,000 ordered, ran for first time on June 17 on a testbed in Derby, UK. The engine’s first run meets programme commitments set out in 2006.

 

The engine, which will power the Airbus A350 XWB family of aircraft, is the sixth Trent family member. The first Trent aero engine, the Trent 700, began service in 1995 and the engine family has now accumulated more than 40 million hours in service.

 

Specifically designed for the Airbus A350 XWB family, the Trent XWB is the most fuel efficient and environmentally sensitive large engine design available today, with 28 per cent better fuel efficiency than pre-Trent generation engines.

 

Mark King, Rolls-Royce President - Civil Aerospace, said: ‘’This is another significant milestone and once again demonstrates Rolls-Royce’s track record of consistently delivering on major leading-edge technology programmes. The Trent XWB will lead the aerospace industry in terms of quality, efficiency and environmental performance.’’

 

Didier Evrard, Head of the A350 XWB Programme, Airbus, said: “This is a great day for the A350 XWB programme, for Rolls-Royce and Airbus. The first engine run of the Trent XWB has been achieved fully on time with our schedule and is a major milestone that marks the coming to life of the new aircraft.”

 

The first run starts the most extensive pre-flight programme in Trent history, before the start of flight tests on an Airbus A380 testbed next year and A350 XWB flight tests in 2012. Seven development engines will be running by early 2011.

 

More:

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/06/18/343426/picture-a350s-trent-xwb-engine-runs-for-first-time.html

 

http://www.rolls-royce.com/civil/news/2010/100618_first_run_xwb.jsp

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Airbus SAS’s A380 superjumbo, designed to carry 500 people per flight between the world’s biggest airport interchanges, is carving out an unexpected new market with direct travel to non-hub cities.

 

Singapore Airlines Ltd., the first company to operate the A380 in 2007, is cutting costs by using the plane to reduce the number of flights to Zurich without slashing capacity. Gulf carrier Emirates has deployed it to Manchester in northern England, adding seats without the expense of extra services.

 

More than 70 airports are equipped to handle the A380, which has a 262-foot (80-meter) wingspan and is 239 feet long, with Munich and Berlin among non-hubs seeking to secure flights from the five carriers that operate the plane and the 10 others with orders. The development is a boost for the Airbus flagship, which has won only one new airline buyer since it first flew.

 

“The A380 was designed as a replacement for the 747, but as it’s deployed we’re finding that the execution is very often different than the forecast,” said Chris Tarry, an independent analyst in London who has followed the industry for almost 30 years. “Airlines need to match capacity with demand, and if you want to move lots of people in one go the A380 does just that.”

 

Auckland, Jeddah

 

Of the 20 destinations that the A380 currently serves, six -- Manchester, Zurich, Auckland, Melbourne, Montreal and Jeddah, the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia -- are absent from Airbus’s list of what it predicts will be the top 20 airports for the plane.

 

For flights from smaller cities the A380 works best as a “strategic tool” when there’s no need for a high number of daily frequencies, Richard Carcaillet, Airbus’s marketing director for the model, said in an interview.

 

“It’s logical to use the A380 where there’s the potential to increase traffic with one well-timed flight that catches the peak of demand and reduces your spill, or traffic that’s left behind because an aircraft is too small,” the executive said.

 

Emirates, the No. 1 A380 customer with 13 in its fleet out of 90 on order, began operating the superjumbo to Jeddah four times a week in February, switching to a daily service in June.

 

Manchester was added to the network last month, with the A380 replacing one of two daily Boeing Co. 777s and funneling a potential 525 more people a week to the Dubai hub the carrier is building as a rival to airports such as London Heathrow.

 

“There were some very clear traffic flows which were calling for the A380,” Emirates Chief Executive Officer Tim Clark said in an interview. “The seat factors on Manchester flights were very high, which required an increase in gauge.”

 

Crowd Puller

 

The coming of the A380, which attracted 20,000 spectators for its first flight to Manchester, is “massively important” and was secured at a cost of 10 million pounds ($15.9 million) in upgrades, said Andrew Harrison, the airport’s managing director, who is hopeful the remaining 777 service might be switched to the superjumbo.

 

Manchester, which handled 22 million people last year, ranking it fourth among U.K. airports, had initially regarded Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner as a more likely candidate for flights because the model is smaller and designed for direct services that don’t involve hub transfers, Harrison said in an interview.

 

“We always talked about the Dreamliner being potentially more our kind of aircraft,” he said. “It would support longer haul and what we call in the business ‘thinner routes.’ But the Emirates route has proved to have loads of demand.”

 

Emirates’ Clark says “similar points” in Germany, France, Asia, South Africa, Italy and China could support the superjumbo and lists Hamburg, Munich, Dusseldorf, Rome and Milan as possible destinations for the future.

 

Singapore Switch

 

Singapore Airlines deployed the A380 strategically in March when it replaced 12 weekly Boeing Co. 777 flights to Zurich -- which ranks as Switzerland’s biggest city but isn’t among the largest 150 in Europe -- with a daily superjumbo service.

 

With the 777 seating 278 people and the A380 some 471, flights were reduced at a cost of 39 seats a week, maintaining feed to Singapore for connections across Asia and Australia while allowing a spare Boeing to be used for services to Munich.

 

“This is operationally more efficient as mounting more flights carries incremental costs for landing, parking, over- flight and air traffic control, as well as for a full set of cabin and technical crew and additional fuel consumption,” said Nicholas Ionides, a spokesman for the carrier, which is the second-largest in the world by market value.

 

Among secondary airports identified by Clark as likely A380 destinations, Munich, which opened in 1992, is “well prepared” for the superjumbo, having been built with a plane of its size in mind, according to spokesman Peter Pruemm.

 

Berlin Ambitions

 

The model has operated test flights to the south-German city “several times,” though no airlines have plans for scheduled services this year or next, he said.

 

Berlin’s new airport, which opens in June 2012, will have a gate that is A380 compatible and is expecting to receive flights, said spokesman Leif Erichsen. Berlin is almost unique in being a capital city while lacking a major hub, with long- haul German flights focused on Frankfurt, he said.

 

Airbus, which is owned by European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co., markets the A380 as more fuel-efficient than older, smaller jets and says it helps alleviate congestion at major airports. EADS was trading down 5.5 cents, or 0.2 percent, at 17.82 euros as of 1:18 p.m. in Paris, paring gains this year to 26 percent and valuing the company at 14.5 billion euros.

 

Cocktail Bars

 

Airlines that operate the superjumbo -- which include Air France, Deutsche Lufthansa SA and Qantas Airways Ltd., as well as Emirates and Singapore Air -- say the plane is also creating its own market, luring flyers with a double-decker layout and on-board perks such as first-class cabins and cocktail bars.

 

According to Airbus’s projections the five busiest airports for so-called very large aircraft by 2028 will be Hong Kong, Heathrow, Beijing, Dubai and Tokyo Narita, with 12 of the top 20 located in the Asia-Pacific.

 

David Gamper, Geneva-based director of safety and technical affairs at the Airports Council International group, said the A380’s natural home may be “thicker hub-to-hub routes,” but that it will “migrate to thinner routes” as deliveries mount.

 

“There are a lot of airports around the world which can accept the A380, usually with very little modification,” he said in an interview. “And more will need to accommodate it simply due to the number of airlines getting the plane.”

 

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-07/airbus-a380-jumbo-jet-bypasses-hubs-as-smaller-cities-clamor-for-flights.html

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Airbus has formally detailed new higher- and lower-weight variants of the A380 in its latest aircraft characteristics documentation for the type.

 

Three additional weight variants - designated WV006, WV007 and WV008 - have been included in a revision of the airframer's technical information.

 

WV008 has a maximum take-off weight of 575t, the highest offered by Airbus.

 

This variant will have a maximum landing weight of 394t and a maximum zero-fuel weight of 369t.

 

Airbus has developed the type to increase the double-deck aircraft's range to around 8,500nm (15,700km) and it will enter service in 2013.

 

But the documentation also shows a 573t variant, WV007, with respective landing and zero-fuel weights of 395t and 373t.

 

The highest A380 weight previously offered was 569t on WV002.

 

Airbus has included its lowest-weight version, WV006 at 490t, in the document, which was updated at the beginning of November. The airframer intends this version to meet QC1 noise criteria for departure.

 

There are nine weight variants of the A380 on offer.

 

Source: http://www.flightglo...ariants-379235/

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If you think the Airbus A380 is already a tightly-packed plane, wait until you see what’s next: a supersized superjumbo with as many as 22% more seats, and an optional 11 seats across in economy.

Airbus revealed the revised A380 layout at its Airbus Innovation Days international media conference in Toulouse, saying that slimline seats and changes to the cabin layout helped boost the bum-count, but held firm that it meant “no compromise in passenger comfort” while also delivering airlines a 7% reduction in cost-per-seat.

The new floorplan boasts 558 seats spread across a standard three-class configuration of first, business and economy, compared to today’s 490 seats in the same mix.

Airbus has allowed for 10 first class mini-suites and 84 business class seats on the upper deck.

Most of the 464 economy seats are found on the lower level but there's also a smaller economy cabin upstairs, nestled behind business class.

 

Those seats remain in the conventional 10 abreast (3-4-3) layout with 32 inch seat pitch and 18.5 inch width.

 

The 600-seat superjumbo

“You can even go beyond 558 seats if you take away first class and do a two-class layout, and you get another five rows (of economy)” says Christopher Emerson, Airbus’ Senior Vice-President of Marketing.

That would boost the tally to 598 seats for a 22% increase on the standard 490 seat A380.

The push to fill the world’s largest passenger jet with even more passengers comes on the back of continued growth in travel, especially in Asia.

The A380 is designed to serve what Airbus calls ‘aviation mega-cities’ – airports which see more than 10,000 long-range international passengers every day.

Today that accounts for 42 destinations which Airbus says serve 90% of the world’s long-distance international travel market to fly from, to or through those airports.

By 2021 that’s predicted to jump to 67 mega-cities – eight of which will be in the Asia-Pacific region – and capture over 95% of long-distance travellers.

 

Sardine mode: 11 abreast seating

By then, even a 600-seat A380 might not be enough to sate the airline’s demands. Cue the heavy organ music, the smoke machines and the appearance of 11 abreast seating in economy.

If it counts for anything, Airbus doesn’t seem too keen to tread this path, even though it lists an 11 abreast option for airlines wishing to “further optimise” the cheap seats.

“Airlines today are not utilising the total capacity of the A380” Emerson explains, “so going (immediately) to 11 abreast is not the first decision you would make as an airline.”

“The first decision you’re going to make is how do I optimise my business class and first class” he reasons.

 

Upstairs, downstairs...

Emerson believes that many airlines operating the A380 chose to position their first class cabin on the lower level.

The move was made partly out of concern that the pointy end of the upper deck would be too noisy (based on airline’s experience with the Boeing 747, he claims) and also because direct boarding of passengers onto the upper deck wasn’t available at many airports during the A380’s early days.

However, the narrower upper deck is better suited to a more efficient use of space for first class seats in a four-across (1-2-1) layout.

For this reason, airlines could move “premium seating from the main deck to the upper deck, so you can get more economy seats on the main deck”.

“By the time you get to 11 abreast you’ve already found the optimum level of comfort and capacity and you have nowhere else to go” Emerson says.

However, Emerson is quick to stress that he doesn’t see 11 abreast seating as being the solution “for all A380 markets.”

“You’re not going to fly 11 abreast in long-haul flights. 11 abreast is designed for airlines who need that ultra-dense capacity and for shorter flights.”

“We have the idea but need to find ways to get revenue back. The airlines would run the scheme, so it might be by licencing.”

http://www.ausbt.com.au/airbus-supersizes-the-a380-superjumbo?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=flipper&utm_campaign=home-flipper

Edited by alberttky

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I do hope that the same considerations (expansions) are also done for the toilets.

On my recent fully packed flight to SYD on AX, one of its aft toilet were not usable - clogged or something. Situation got worse when our plane got diverted and a delayed of a couple of hours to our destination.

I could just imagine the nightmare.

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Rolls-Royce Trent 900 EP2 passes EASA type test

 

Tuesday, 26 November 2013
An improved version of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine has passed its European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type test.
The Trent 900 EP2 engine, offering a further fuel burn improvement of up to 0.8 per cent, will become the new build standard for the engine next year once full certification is achieved.
Rosie Toogood, Rolls-Royce, Programme Director – Trent 900, said: "This milestone is a significant step toward full EASA certification for the Trent 900 EP2, expected in early 2014. We are committed to delivering our improvement programme to ensure that the Trent 900 remains the engine of choice for A380 operators."
The Trent 900 EP2 improvements include: optimised fan blade tip clearance; improved turbine case cooling; improved sealing for the low-pressure (LP) turbine; an optimised intermediate pressure (IP) compressor; an improved engine sector stator; and improvements to the air flow system.
The type test success comes as the Trent 900, selected by 11 of 17 customers to have made an engine choice for the A380, continues to excel in service.
Loet Vudhijaya, Director, Maintenance Control Center (MCC), THAI Airways International, said: "THAI Airways International has just celebrated 12 months of operational service of the A380 powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine. In that time, our Trent 900s have accumulated over 600,000 engine flying hours and recorded zero basic engine delays and zero engine-related diversions, turnbacks or aborted takeoffs. The service and monitoring offered by Rolls-Royce has also helped ensure we minimise our maintenance costs."
Source: Rolls Royce

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Found this on FB

 

1426491_768692646480355_1858400008_n.jpg

 

Suggestion for round trip to try out as many A380 as possible?

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When Emirates last summer towed one of its Airbus A380s into its Dubai MRO facility for a 3C-check – an overhaul scheduled after six years of operation – this was not the type's first such event but marked the beginning of a heavy maintenance cycle for what is, by a wide margin, the largest fleet among operators of the double-decker.


The aircraft (MSN011, registration A6-EDA) was Emirates' first superjumbo, manufactured in 2007 and delivered the following year. The Gulf carrier became the second A380 operator, after the type had been introduced at Singapore Airlines in 2007.


Last summer's overhaul took nearly eight weeks, with technicians working round-the-clock on the aircraft. About 1,600 interior items – including seats, galleys, bars, shower rooms and parts of the cockpit – were removed over a 12-day period. After the equipment was inspected and repaired, or replaced where necessary, the reinstallation required two weeks. Meanwhile, technicians inspected the airframe and conducted repairs and modifications. Two engine pylons of the Engine Alliance GP7200-powered aircraft were also removed during the hangar visit.


Future A380 3C-checks may require more than the 55-day ground time needed for the initial overhaul, as they are set to include additional heavy structural modifications such as work on flap tracks and leading edges, says Iain Lachlan, senior vice-president of Emirates' engineering division. Maintaining the A380 is a "very labour-extensive" undertaking due to the aircraft's size and requires a large team of technicians and significant investment in special equipment such as tooling, hangar installations and ground support gear, he adds.


This is underlined by Air France's director for Airbus fleet engineering and maintenance Stephane Trigona, who says that servicing the double-deck cabin is a challenge in its own right: "We have to correct more issues sometimes in the same transient check time as for other aircraft like the [Airbus] A330 and [boeing] 777, because we don't have twice as much time. [The A380] requires some dedicated resources."


Maintenance tasks that can be completed on the ramp for smaller aircraft – such as replacing a rudder servo-control actuator – need to be conducted in a hangar with appropriate support equipment to handle the superjumbo's large components, says Air France A380 fleet manager Pascal Menegat. This makes the aircraft's support more dependent on dedicated facilities than other, smaller types. Due to the limited fleet size and number of operators, this may be further aggravated by the fact that appropriate maintenance capabilities and facilities are less widespread than for more commonly used types.




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When Singapore Airlines Flight SQ380 took off on Oct. 25, 2007, the airline opened a new chapter in the history of commercial air transport. Finally, after more than 37 years, an aircraft significantly larger than the Boeing 747 entered service—the Airbus A380. But unlike the case of its famous predecessor as the world’s largest aircraft, even after eight years in service it is still unclear whether or not it has a bright future.

 

While the aircraft has won praise from both operators and passengers for having raised the bar in terms of passenger comfort and is now meeting its service reliability targets, the recent lack of orders is a significant medium-term threat for the program. Production appears to be secured in the short term, albeit at lower levels than Airbus had planned.
Airbus is pondering what changes— whether these are fine-tuning or more substantial—might make the aircraft attractive to more operators. Among the things being considered are, most prominently, reengining the aircraft to launch the A380neo, as well as less spectacular modifications to the cabin that would allow airlines to carry more passengers with the existing aircraft, thus reducing unit costs.

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Airbus Targets Delivery of Twelve A380 Per Year From 2018

 

London, 12 July 2016 – In line with the current order intake, Airbus has decided to target 12 A380 deliveries per year from 2018.
“With this prudent, proactive step we are establishing a new target for our industrial planning, meeting current commercial demand but keeping all our options open to benefit from future A380 markets, which we consider in the environment of ongoing aviation growth and constrained airport capacity as a given,” says Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President & CEO. “We are maintaining, innovating and investing in the A380, keeping the aircraft the favourite of passengers, the airlines and airports - today and in the future. The A380 is here to stay!”
Airbus reached breakeven at 27 aircraft deliveries in 2015. The company will continue to improve the efficiency of its industrial system to achieve breakeven at 20 aircraft in 2017 and targets additional cost reduction initiatives to lower breakeven further.
With passenger traffic doubling every 15 years, the A380 is the one and only solution for sustainable growth at congested airports. Today, 18 global leading airlines have ordered a total of 319 A380s so far, building their brand with this flagship aircraft. The 193 megaliners that have been delivered to
13 operators serve over 100 routes on an ever expanding global network. Today every three minutes an A380 takes off or lands. In 2016, 14 aircraft have been delivered so far and underlines a stable production performance with the backlog standing at 126.
The 193 A380s in operation today are serving 38 of the 55 global aviation megacities (47 of which are either growth or schedule-constrained). The number of megacities will rise to 93 by 2035, serving
2.5 million daily passengers and 95%+ of long-haul traffic.
Passengers love the A380 and the aircraft is clearly the passengers’ aircraft of choice. Independent studies show that 60 percent of passengers make an extra effort to fly on the comfort-leading double-deck mega-liner. Airbus is supporting this distinctive travel behaviour through a new, unique IflyA380.com booking assistant launched at Farnborough Airshow this year. Operated in full partnership with the A380 airlines around the world the website enables passengers to prioritize and select the A380 when making their travel arrangements.
Airbus expects that based on the flexibility within the wider Airbus programme ramp up environment and also opportunities within other Airbus Group Divisions, the impacts on employment will be mitigated.
Source:
Airbus

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Airbus boosts A380 capacity by 20 with redesigned front stairs

 

 

Airbus is today unveiling a redesigned front staircase for the A380 that it says will create room for 20 more passengers. This is part of an ongoing campaign of cabin tweaks to boost the type’s capacity by up to 80 seats – something Toulouse believes could broaden the appeal of the slow-selling superjumbo.

 

The airframer is showing on its stand a scale model of the staircase, which will be offered as an option on future orders. The feature could eventually become standard, and even be made available as a retrofit, says Roland Naudy, aircraft interiors marketing director for the A380.
The redesign sees the front stairs moved from door one to door two on the main deck and combined with the access to the crew rest area, currently at door two. Rather than facing forward, the stairs will be aligned to the left of the aircraft. On the upper deck, the staircase will be replaced by a new galley area.
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Airbus boosts A380 capacity by 20 with redesigned front stairs

An extra 20 seats isn't going to revive the Dugong's fortune.

 

Time for Airbus to cut their losses, clear its backlog & end production.

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