A magnificent beast made of four million parts from 30 different countries, the Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger airliner, and its era is almost at an end. The initial assembly has recently been completed on the last ever superjumbo, after it was announced in 2019 that the European airplane manufacturers were discontinuing the plane.
Initial assembly of the final double-decker jet, serial number 272, has been completed, with manufacturing station 40 now out of work. It's now off to station 30, where, Airbus media relations manager Anne Galabert tells CNN Travel, the engines will be installed and tests carried out on electrical and hydraulic systems, on-board computers, landing gear, and moving parts. After engine tests are performed, the aircraft will make its first test flight to Hamburg, Germany, where the cabin will be installed, fitted out and the plane painted in the customer's livery: Emirates Airlines.
The last convoy to the Final Assembly Line (FAL) took place in February this year, with hundreds turning out in the French village of Levignac to see the wings, fuselage sections, and horizontal tailplane transported by truck.
Putting together the A380 is a gargantuan task, with 1,500 companies involved in manufacturing all the individual parts, from rivets to bolts, to seats and engines.
Fuselage sections came from Hamburg, Germany, and Saint-Nazaire, France; the horizontal tailplane was manufactured in Cadiz, Spain; and the vertical tail fin was also made in Hamburg. The parts' pilgrimage to France was made by road, sea, and air.
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