104 years after the first twelve seconds
Airbus A380 A380-800
The largest airliner ever built
The story
Two full decks run the length of the fuselage, certified for up to 853 passengers. Each of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 970 engines makes about 70 times the thrust of the first . The does most of the work: most of the air it moves goes around the engine core, not through it.
Its wing was sized for a longer version that was never built, so the A380 flies with more wing than it needs. Its parts were made across Europe, the wings in Britain and the fuselage sections in France, Germany and Spain, and the largest pieces travelled by ship, barge and night-time road convoy to Toulouse to be put together.
Singapore Airlines flew the first passengers, from Singapore to Sydney. An aircraft this large, with four engines, was hard to fill and harder to pay for once efficient twin-engine jets such as the 787 arrived, and Airbus stopped building the A380 in 2021 after 251 aircraft. Emirates took almost half of them.
How it works
Loading the 3D model…
Specifications
- Top speed
- 945 km/h
- Wingspan
- 79.8 m
- Max weight
- 575,000 kg
- Ceiling
- 13,100 m
- Range
- 15,000 km
- In 12 seconds
- 3.2 km
- Power
- 4 × Rolls-Royce Trent 970, 310 kN each
Where it flew
Singapore to Sydney
Singapore Changi. The simulator starts here, over today's ground and imagery of the place.
Fly it yourself
Take the Airbus A380 up in 3D, with its real weight, wing area and power.
Lift 575 tonnes off the runway.