El Auge Y La Caída Del A380 - Documental Completo

Video from the channel Plane Curious Español about Airbus A380, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 35:14. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

Documentary that traces the commercial trajectory of the Airbus A380, from its conception as a rival to the Boeing 747 to the end of its production, and argues that the aircraft failed because of a mistaken strategic bet rather than its engineering.

Airbus launched the program in the mid-1990s, convinced that traffic would keep concentrating on large hub airports and that congested airports could only grow by using bigger aircraft. Boeing, by contrast, gave up on a superjumbo in 2004 and bet instead on the 787, a medium-sized twin-engine jet designed for direct flights. The relaxation of ETOPS rules allowed twin-engine aircraft like the 777 to cover long oceanic routes, and airlines increasingly favored frequency and flexibility over maximum capacity. None of the three major US airlines ordered a single unit.

The first flight took place in April 2005, and Singapore Airlines received the first aircraft in October 2007, configured with 471 seats. In between, incompatibility between versions of the design software used at the different European plants forced the wiring to be redone by hand and delayed deliveries by about two years. The aircraft has a wingspan of 79.75 m, a maximum take-off weight of 575 t, and either Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7000-family engines. Parts arrived in Toulouse from the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain, partly by sea aboard the ship Ville de Bordeaux. Emirates ordered 123 units, more than all other customers combined, and built its network around them from Dubai. Air France announced the retirement of its fleet in 2019, and Lufthansa, Thai Airways and ANA also grounded their aircraft during the pandemic. Airbus announced the end of production in February 2019, which concluded in 2021 with 251 aircraft delivered over 14 years; the documentary puts the development cost at more than $30 billion. The Toulouse assembly line was converted for the A321neo.