Inside the Archive #18 | Airbus A380

If the Boeing 747 is the Queen of the Skies, then the Airbus A380 – the largest passenger aircraft in the world, and the only one with a full-length double deck – is undoubtedly the king. Conceived in the early 1990s by the European planemaker to compete with the 747’s dominance, the first A380 rolled off the production line in 2005, with Singapore Airlines operating the first commercial A380 flight on board 9V-SKA (nicknamed “Superjumbo”) in 2007.

While the A380 found favour with airlines like Qantas, Singapore, Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar – all of which still fly it today – it ended up being something of a flop, as the aviation landscape changed dramatically between when it was first proposed and when it began flying. While the “hub-and-spoke” model reigned supreme 30 years ago, airlines over the following decades transitioned more towards “point-to-point” services, connecting one destination directly to another instead of travelling through central hubs.

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