Made With Love: Airbus A Draws Heart On Last Ever A380 Test Flight

Yesterday was an emotional day for the global aviation community. The last Airbus A380 that will be delivered conducted its final test flight. Amid the sentimental occasion, the crew of the superjumbo drew a heart over the north of Germany with its flight path.

The final Airbus A380 production left a heartfelt message with its concluding test flight before delivery. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Plan changes

In a twist, Emirates previously revealed that its final three A380s would be delivered this year rather than 2022. The deliveries were then set to be in November 2021, but the schedule was once again changed to December. 

Thus, the penultimate delivery, which was for MSN 271, occurred on December 10th. Registration A6-EVR left from Hamburg, Germany at 19:09 CET to land in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, nearly five hours later.

The Airbus A380 is a behemoth, with a length of 238 ft 6 in / 72.7 m, a height of 79 ft 7 in / 24.1 m, and a wingspan of 261 ft 8 in / 79.8 m. Photo: Getty Images

The time has come

Two days later, MSN 272 geared up for a goodbye from Airbus’ facilities with its last test flight. The aircraft was previously being worked on in Toulouse. However, it took off for Hamburg on March 18th.

After a 03h17m trip northeast, it conducted a series of tests flights from Germany’s second most populous city until Sunday. This final unit is set to be delivered to Emirates later this week.

On December 12th, registration F-WWSH, performing Flight AIB272E, took off from Hamburg-Finkenwerder Airport at 11:07 CET to land back at the site 04h48m later at 15:56 CET. Photo: RadarBox.com

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End of an era

The completion of the A380 delivery schedule has long been expected. Despite entering service only 14 years ago, the superjumbo swiftly fell out of fashion due to changing requirements of the market. 

Airlines swiftly preferred more efficient twinjet options. Moreover, carriers had increasingly moved away from hub and spoke operations in favor of point-to-point services, which suited smaller aircraft. Thus, Airbus announced the end of the A380 program in early 2019. Notably, amid the revelation, the overall project didn’t make a profit.

There had been a recent sharp decline in A380 deployment across the industry. There were no units flying at one point last year. Additionally, operators such as Lufthansa and Air France retired their superjumbo fleets.

Nonetheless, despite the doom and gloom, there have been some optimistic reports surrounding the A380 in recent months. Several operators, including Qantas, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, and even Qatar Airways, announced the return of the plane to their services. 

Emirates is expected to fly units of its substantial fleet into the next decade. So, even though the A380 may not be around for the long term, there is still plenty of time to fly on the quadjet. 

Altogether, what are your thoughts about the final Airbus A380 conducting its last test flight? What do you make of the end of the aircraft’s delivery schedule? Let us know what you think of the plane and its operations in the comment section.

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