Mohd Azizul Ramli 2 Report post Posted April 24, 2008 World's largest airliner, the Airbus A380 is definitely a headline maker. As more unit of this aircraft is produced, airlines around the world are competing against each other to come up with a better inflight experience specially for the A380. With our national carrier, Malaysia Airlines, joining the wagon in operating the new queen of the sky in 2011, let us use this thread to track the airlines and the airports that are receiving the jet. I also hope this thread can be a platform to showcase the product offerings onboard other carriers' A380, with the hope that MH may take some cues from them and formulate a better one for them. As of today (25 April 2008), only 3 unit of this aircraft have entered commercial services - all 3 are with Singapore Airlines and only 2 schedule commercial flights are operated with the A380. CURRENT SERVICE The first A380 schedule commercial flight Carrier: Singapore Airlines (SQ) Route: Singapore (SIN) - Sydney (SYD) - Singapore (SIN) Date of commencement: 25 October 2007 Press Release: http://www.singaporeair.com/mediacentre/pa...ews/NE_5807.jsp The second A380 schedule commercial flight Carrier: Singapore Airlines (SQ) Route: Singapore (SIN) - London Heathrow (LHR) - Singapore (SIN) Date of commencement: 18 March 2008 Press Release: http://www.singaporeair.com/mediacentre/pa...ews/NE_0908.jsp CONFIRMED BUT HAS YET TO COMMENCE The third A380 schedule commercial flight Carrier: Singapore Airlines (SQ) Route: Singapore (SIN) - Tokyo Narita (NRT) - Singapore (SIN) Date of commencement: 20 May 2008 Press Release: http://www.singaporeair.com/mediacentre/pa...ews/NE_1508.jsp The fourth A380 schedule commercial flight Carrier: Emirates (EK) Route: Dubai (DXB) - New York JFK (JFK) - Dubai (DXB) Date of commencement: 1 October 2008 Press Release: http://www.emirates.com/english/about/news...T_AND_WEST.aspx The fifth A380 schedule commercial flight Carrier: Emirates (EK) Route: Dubai (DXB) - London Heathrow (LHR) - Dubai (DXB) Date of commencement: 1 December 2008 Press Release: http://www.emirates.com/english/about/news...T_AND_WEST.aspx The sixth A380 schedule commercial flight Carrier: Emirates (EK) Route: Dubai (DXB) - Sydney (SYD) - Auckland (AKL) - Sydney (SYD) - Dubai (DXB) Date of commencement: 1 February 2009 Press Release: http://www.emirates.com/english/about/news...T_AND_WEST.aspx I hope those in the know can contribute inputs in this thread, especially about Thai Airways and Qantas' A380 first commercial flights. And to be consistent, for the announcement of the A380 flights, I hope any link to the press releases must come from the airline itself. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seth K 3 Report post Posted April 25, 2008 Nice, my first A380 flight will be with EK this December! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mushrif A 3 Report post Posted April 25, 2008 Another resource: www.Firsttofly.net This has a lot less PR spin from the respective airlines but more real insights from travellers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Azizul Ramli 2 Report post Posted May 9, 2008 New A380 schedule service announced albeit only temporary to cater for the 2008 Olympic Games. This is the first temporary schedule deployment of A380s. Carrier: Singapore Airlines (SQ) Route: Singapore (SIN) - Beijing (PEK) - Singapore (SIN) Date of commencement: 2-8 August 2008 Press Release: http://www.singaporeair.com/mediacentre/pa...ews/NE_2408.jsp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alex L 0 Report post Posted May 10, 2008 Expect an announcement after the 5th and 6th A380s arrive on the start of SQ1 / SQ2 to San Francisco. Sometime in October is the expected start date. That would mean Emirates = 1 flight (JFK), Singapore = 4 (SYD / LHR / NRT / SFO via HKG) Alex. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Azizul Ramli 2 Report post Posted May 12, 2008 A sneek peek inside Qantas's first A380. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/gallery/0...06020-1,00.html Keith T, please comment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karlm 0 Report post Posted May 13, 2008 A sneek peek inside Qantas's first A380. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/gallery/0...06020-1,00.html Keith T, please comment. Nice, Can wait for it to come to MEL. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MIR 2 Report post Posted May 13, 2008 Wow!! There is a self-service beverage and food bar for economy class passengers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MIR 2 Report post Posted May 13, 2008 The interior of the business and economy is lil bit dull to me... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Keith T 2 Report post Posted May 13, 2008 Whilst no actual dates have been announced, Qantas expects to operate the A380 for QF93/94 MEL-LAX vv by October 2008: http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23...1-14334,00.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nick C 0 Report post Posted May 13, 2008 The seats on the Charlie 130 look much better than the YCL seats on QF's A380. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MIR 2 Report post Posted May 13, 2008 The seats on the Charlie 130 look much better than the YCL seats on QF's A380. You mean the C-130 Red colour Troop seat ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nick C 0 Report post Posted May 13, 2008 You mean the C-130 Red colour Troop seat ? Yeah It's much better than staring at lime green. Looking at the sample shots already give me a headache. Thank goodness I fly SQ. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yusoff 1 Report post Posted May 13, 2008 Ugghhh.. look at those green Y seats.. Doesn't 'rhymes' with the white cabin.... eewwww..... Marc Newson... he should be kicked from Qantas... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BC Tam 2 Report post Posted May 13, 2008 Uh oh, some plans may need to be deferred it would seem Airbus confirms new A380 delays Plane maker Airbus has warned that airlines face further delays in receiving the A380 superjumbo. More time and resources were needed to increase production, the company said, which would result in fewer deliveries than planned during 2008 and 2009. Earlier this month, two airlines revealed that Airbus had warned them of possible further delays. Deliveries of the A380 are already running almost two years late because of delays centred on wiring problems. The company said the latest delays were due to problems moving from the initial production phase, responsible for the first 25 aircraft, to a more intensive production line. No details were given about the financial implications of the announcement. "The extent of the additional costs will be influenced by the actual production and delivery scenario," Airbus said. Customer discussions Airbus - which is part of aerospace group EADS - now plans to deliver 12 planes this year, instead of the 13 expected. In 2009, 21 A380s will be supplied to carriers against the previous plan to deliver 25. Deliveries for 2010 would be discussed with airlines in the coming weeks, Airbus added. The first A380 entered commercial service last year with Singapore Airlines, while Emirates is the plane's largest customer. EADS said that four A380s have been delivered as planned, while a further 17 were in various stages of production. Both Dubai-based Emirates and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said earlier this month they had received warning of delays. British Airways has ordered 12 A380s, due to be delivered from 2012, while Virgin Atlantic has ordered six, to arrive from 2013. The airliner's wings are made at Broughton in north Wales and at Filton in Bristol. Courtesy of the BBC here Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nick C 0 Report post Posted May 15, 2008 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...0-23349,00.html QANTAS has leapt to the defence of the Australian-themed decor in its new A380 superjumbos after the cabins received an online drubbing from aviation enthusiasts. Photographs of the first plane posted online this week have provoked an avalanche of mostly negative comments on aviation website airliners.net. The reaction of more than 270 posts from around the world is particularly critical of the airline's colour schemes. Created by award-winning Australian industrial designer Marc Newson, a first media review of the cabins said: "Travellers will see elegant internal furnishings in colours reflecting the changing hues of our native landscape." But aviation enthusiasts on airliners.net found that the colours reminded them more of bodily functions than a sunburnt country. At the top of the hate list were the green seats pictured in the economy cabin. "I am glad I was not the only one wanting to puke when I saw the green economy seats," said a poster from the US, the first destination for the A380. "Those are horrible." A fellow American agreed: "Given all the hype from QF, Iwas expecting much better product. "This one looks like crap. "Bad colours, seat designs that value form over comfort." One British correspondent likened the economy cabin to a hospital waiting room. "Really, I cannot see this working at all, they are going to have to change it," the poster said. "Indescribably awful." "I hope they saved the receipts ... maybe they can get their money back," said another poster from Colombia. One wag even posted a picture of Sydney's City Rail trains, which also have unflattering green seats, and suggested these might have been the inspiration. Posters were also generally underwhelmed by the photographs of the Qantas first- and business-class seats, although reaction to these was more mixed. "Newson may have been going for a retro/Soviet 70s style, in which case he pulled it off quite well, especially looking at the first-class cabin," said a Finnish correspondent. But one Australian doubted whether the colour would make any difference to travellers and another believed the reaction was "a tad too harsh". "There are many things we can't tell from these pics, such as how comfortable the seats actually are, how much real space there is, etc," the Australian said. "People in economy aren't going to give a toss what colour the seats are as long as they are comfortable and have a working PTV screen - the same way they aren't going to care what colour the business cabin is as long as the seats are flat and the service is decent." Qantas said the cabins were still unfinished and urged people not to judge them on the basis of a limited number of photographs. "We are totally confident of our new product," said the airline's head of corporate affairs, Belinda de Rome. "We think it will be the best in the sky and when people see it on board they will be bowled over." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Azizul Ramli 2 Report post Posted May 31, 2008 The fourth A380 schedule commercial flight Carrier: Emirates (EK) Route: Dubai (DXB) - New York JFK (JFK) - Dubai (DXB) Date of commencement: 1 October 2008 Breaking news! EK's 1st A380 flight to JFK will be on 1 August 2008, 2 months ahead of original schedule, sources from DXB said. I wonder how could this happen? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Azizul Ramli 2 Report post Posted June 9, 2008 It's confirmed. EK will received it's first A380 on 28 July 2008 and will operate its first scheduled commercial flight 3 days later. Photo from PetersFlori of aviation-community.de. EK purchased 58 (!!!) of these! EK's first A380 flights: Outbound 1 August 2008 DXB-JFK EK 3801 Dep: 11:00 Arr: 16:45 Inbound 1 August 2008 JFK-DXB EK 3802 Dep: 21:00 Arr: 17:45+1 A whole new set of cabin crew uniform will also be introduced on that flight and later on will be applied fleet wide. Photo from Smi0006 of A.Net The main reason behind the advancement of the first flight from 1 October 2008 to 1 August 2008 is because EK wants to become the first airline in the world to operate a scheduled A380 flight to the US, ahead of QF and SQ. EK's A380 interiors and onboard product, which has been kept under wraps thus far, will also be revealed for the first time during the delivery ceremony in Hamburg. Official press release: http://www.emirates.com/english/about/news...OM_HAMBURG.aspx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seth K 3 Report post Posted June 9, 2008 Holy crap! I'm flying EK on August 5th from JFK-DXB!!!!!!!!!!! A380 yes Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Georg Burdicek 1 Report post Posted June 9, 2008 (edited) Holy crap! I'm flying EK on August 5th from JFK-DXB!!!!!!!!!!! A380 yes ´ EK press office told me last week that 1st commercial a380 flight of EK will be Oct1st DXB-JFK.... so fast they change their mind. and they are not doing a first flight party... :-) Edited June 9, 2008 by Georg Burdicek Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Keith T 2 Report post Posted June 16, 2008 QF A380 Schedule: http://www.qantas.com.au/info/flying/A380/schedule Inaugural routes: MEL-LAX vv SYD-LAX vv SYD-SIN-LHR vv Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MIR 2 Report post Posted July 24, 2008 Emirates will take delivery of its first A380 aircraft this Monday, July 28, 2008..EK first class cabin fitted with showers n spas !! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kenneth T 0 Report post Posted July 24, 2008 (edited) A380s in the states? Spas on board the First Class? Very innovative indeed. I would love to fly on board someday, Edited July 24, 2008 by Kenneth T Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KC Sim 2 Report post Posted September 6, 2008 I guess someone has forgotten that yet another hub for A380 services is London-Heathrow, with possibly NRT and at some point, HKG. With Thai Airways International, Malaysia Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Korean Air, Kingfisher Airlines taking delivery of the A380, there will be a rather dense network of A380 services here in Asia. Emirates, Qatar and Etihad will certain deploy theirs in the region too, as will European carriers such as Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. KC Sim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Radzi 2 Report post Posted September 7, 2008 I wonder who will be operating the A380 to KUL on regular basis, other than MH. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
