Emirates says the A380 will remain a staple of their long haul services. Photo / Supplied
Emirates says the A380 will remain a staple of their long haul services. Photo / Supplied
The final Airbus A380 super jumbo has flown off the production line in Hamburg for delivery at Emirates.
Over the past two decades the airline in the UAE has been the European plane maker's best customer, taking almost half of the A380s delivered.
Now, after 252 aircrafts and 16 years,Airbus says the era of the superjumbo is over.
On Friday A6-EVS was officially the final A380 to be produced, and the handover was an extravagant farewell. After assembly, testing and input from facilities from Lyon to Hamburg, the plane took a very circuitous route to Dubai.
Detour London: The flight path was via UK airspace to finalise the sale. Photo / Flight Radar 24
It was the number 1 tracked service on Right Radar 24, followed by 51000 aviation enthusiasts.
Due to the sales paperwork in London the plane had to fly briefly into UK airspace.
After the sale was finalised the four engine super carrier flew back over Europe.
Earlier this week Emirates' flew a giant heart over Germany during the customer acceptance flight for the final batch of the planes. A heartfelt goodbye to the production programme of the largest production passenger planes in history.
With the 123rd #A380 delivery to @Emirates, today sees yet another historic milestone in the long relationship between the airline and Airbus. The stories of Emirates and the A380 have long been intertwined - find out more in our webstory: https://t.co/ORV3jeaJCYhttps://t.co/uD7Ij31iON
As airlines look for smaller, more fuel efficient planes - and greater flexibility of schedule - the era of the 853 passenger carriers is over.
Boeing too is bowing out of jumbo jet production. The final production 747 is due to be delivered to Atlas Air in October. After over half a century in production, the 'Queen of the Skies' is likely to mostly be used for cargo flights.
Auf wiedersehen: Emirates took delivery of the final production A380s from Hamburg last week. Photo / Flight Radar 24
The Airbus's version of the Jumbo jet never saw the desired number of orders, in spite being a relatively recent design.
The giant planes fell out of favour with airline but the Airbus still has a loyal following from flyers and aviation fans. The substantial girth of the jumbos allowed for unique features such as, Emirate's flying Sky Lounge with a service bar in business class.
The A380s will remain in service for at least the next couple of decades, especially on long haul legs between the Persian Gulf and New Zealand.
Emirates A380 Onboard Sky Lounge in the A380s. Picture / Supplied
Tim Clark president for Emirates and the largest fleet of A380s in the world said the aircraft remained "a vital pillar of our network plans."
Emirates is set to restore non-stop flights between Auckland and Dubai and bring its A380 superjumbos when transtasman flights are restored to Christchurch and Sydney.
