The very last jumbo jet of type A380 was transported in convoy through French villages on the way to assembly.
Here the three largest parts of the fuselage are transported through Levignac in France.
–STEPHANE MAHE / NTB Scanpix
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The convoy took place just over a week ago, when the major parts of the passenger plane were transported through, among other things, Levignac outside Toulouse, France, on the way to the Airbus factory where the massive aircraft is finally to be assembled.
The aircraft has serial number MSN 272, and is scheduled to be delivered to Emirates in 2021, writes Technical Weekly Magazine, which recently mentioned the latest milestone.
The village has for the last 16 years been one of the last stops on the journey for A380 parts on the way to the final assembly at the “Jean-Luc Lagardere” plant at Touluse.
– Stomach ache
In front of the plane’s windows were pictures of Airbus employees, and according to Reuters, workers also stood and applauded the plane, along with residents of Levignac, as the parts were driven through the village.
– It has given life to the region, along with all the villages around here and the people who built it. It’s great, Christiane Inard tells Reuters.
—Airbus airliners and villagers in the village applauded as the floats passed, Reuters writes.
–REMY GABALDA / AFP / NTB Scanpix
She has seen almost over 200 similar convoys crawl through the village of Levignac, where she lives, since it first passed in 2004.
“It hurts to see this come to an end, it’s difficult for employment, for the younger ones,” Inard told the news agency.
Put on the ground
Last year, Airbus announced that it would halt production of giant aircraft in 2021.
By then, Emirates had recently decided to cancel the order on 39 A380s rather than order 40 A330neo and 30 A350 aircraft.
Emirates has been by far the largest customer of the aircraft type, while Singapore Airlines has the second highest number of its 24.
Recently, the very last A380 flew for Air France, which has had 10 aircraft in operation. The French airline had originally planned to phase out the huge passenger aircraft by the end of 2022.
But because of the corona crisis, the remaining nine planes have been put on the ground. And there they stand, Air France has decided.
Delete with sales
The four-engine four-plane aircraft can take up to 853 passengers, though around 500 are common.
But Airbus has struggled to sell the planes, as many airlines prefer smaller, more flexible and wider two-tier aircraft. Such aircraft are also cheaper to operate.
In Airbus’ order book, there are now only orders for nine new aircraft. Eight are going to Emirates, which owns about half of all A380 aircraft produced, and one goes to Japanese All Nippon Airways.
The first flight of the super jumbo happened in 2007, when a Singapore Airlines machine took off in the direction of Sydney.
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