Airbus has released a video of its final A380 departing Toulouse for the manufacturer’s Hamburg plant.
As flagged on our forum the flight took place last week, but the manufacturer has now published the two-minute video showing the superjumbo performing a wing wave as it left Airbus’ factory in Toulouse.
As can be seen from the tailfin, the aircraft is destined for Emirates, by far the largest A380 customer with nearly 120 deliveries since the carrier received its first superjumbo back in 2008.
Emirates recently took delivery of its first A380 to feature the airline’s new premium economy seating.
Airbus announced plans to stop production of the A380 in 2019, following Emirates’ decision to reduce its outstanding orders for the superjumbo.
The subsequent onset of Covid-19 has led several carriers including Air France and Thai Airways to retire their superjumbo fleets.
Lufthansa’s CEO Carsten Spohr said this month that “In the current situation, we do not see any prospect of the A380 in our fleet”, while the chief executive of Etihad Aviation Group Tony Douglas similarly cast doubt on the carrier’s superjumbos, stating that “I’m sure it’s very likely that we won’t see them operating with Etihad again”.
But Singapore Airlines is showing faith in its A380s by retrofitting one of its superjumbos with the carrier’s latest onboard products.
