End Of An Era: Airbus Delivers Last A380 to Emirates

Emirates Airbus A380-800 - Photo: Matthieu Douhaire - AirTeamImages.com

After 16 years of an era of Airbus superjumbos, Airbus delivered the last A380 built, A6-EVS (MSN 272), to Emirates on Thursday (16th Dec), marking the end of the superjumbo program of one of the European aircraft manufacturer's most ambitious projects.

Emirates Airbus A380-800 (A6-EVS) - Photo: Niclas Rebbelmund - Planespotters.net

A380 History 

The A380 project was announced in 1990 to challenge the dominance of the Boeing 747 in the long-haul market. The then-designated A3XX project was presented in 1994; Airbus launched the €9.5 billion ($10.7 billion) A380 program on December 19th, 2000. The first prototype was unveiled in Toulouse on January 18th, 2005, operating its first flight on April 27th.

Emirates Airbus A380-800 (F-WWOW) - Photo: Matthieu Douhaire - AirTeamImages.com

A380 Final Flight

The final A380 flight, UAE5GT, took off from Hamburg Airport at 16:40 (CEST) to Dubai, UAE. The A380-800 (registered A6-EVS) is the 123rd superjumbo delivered by Airbus to Emirates Airlines. 

The Image Above: Final A380 delivery flight tracked via RadarBox.com

Also, on Sunday, December 12th, the last-ever A380 performed a flight path drawing giant hearts over the German skies saying goodbye to the A380 program.

The Image Above: A 'heart' flight path for Sunday's test flight of the last A380 ever built

Emirates Aircraft Fleet Utilization Statistics

Analyzing Emirates' fleet utilization statistics provided by AirNav RadarBox, we can see that the Airbus A380 is the third most utilized aircraft by Emirates, with an average of 11.5 hours and 2 flights per day. Demonstrating the importance of superjumbos for the Dubai-based airline.