
Qantas First A380 Delivery
Sunday Sept. 21, Qantas Airlines of Australia will have it’s first of 20 Airbus A380 Super Jumbo Jets at their home base, as it looks forward to building a fleet of fuel-efficient aircraft.
Delays of deliviries, of 2 years have held back the official ceremonies of the new Qantas Airbus A380, that are to be held on Friday September 19, in Toulouse, France, where Airbus will hand-over the Super Jumbo Jet!
The newest delivered A380 super jumbo, now painted in full Qantas Livery, will leave the Airbus factory at about midnight on Friday (central European summer time) and will land in Sydney on Sunday September 21 at 0900 AEST.
The first A380 Qantas flight will be host to about 30 media representatives, and Qantas staff and crew.
Qantas Airline will be the third airline to host the giant bird, as Singapore Airlines were the first airline to receive the very first delivered A380 jet, one of the five A380’s they have in their fleet now with another 14 ordered A380’s to follow, and Emirates (Dubai Based) is the second airline to host the A380, as it is also waiting on a second A380 delivery that has further been delayed a couple of weeks, to make a total of 2 A380’s of the 58 they have ordered.
The total order of 20 A380 Planes Qantas ordered is in effort to compete with the Boeing 777-300Ers, Virgin Blue’s international offshoot, V Australia, will provide the trans-Pacific route from this Christmas.
Qantas will make it’s first official commercial flight with the Airbus A380 on October 20 from Melbourne to Los Angeles, the second debut will be on October 24 from Sydney to L A.
Qantas is scheduled for two more A380 deliveries before the end of this year, and will be progressively introducing services to the Sydney – London Route in the early part of 2009.
The new jet being delivered to Qantas is nick named “jolly green giant”, due to its reduced fuel consumption, a factor in the purchase of the A380 crafts, as airlines look to reduce fuel costs.
“The A380 will deliver up to 10 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency and carbon emissions per revenue tonne kilometre than today’s largest jets,” Qantas said.
The Airbus A380 requires about 2.9 litres of fuel per 100 passenger kilometres, measured against the aviation industry average of about five litres per 100 passenger kilometres.
These figures are based on a passenger load of 470 people, a very small number of passengers when compared to an A380 fully converted to economy class, which can hold an amazing … 850 passengers!
The first A380 Qantas receives will be named after the first female pilot to fly passengers in Australia, Nancy Bird Walton.
The newest commercial A380 airliner will have a 450 seat configuration, the smallest seating density of the three airline services (Singapore – 471 seats, Emirates – 514 seats), the seats will be in four class configurations: first class, business class, premium economy and economy class.
The seating arangements on the Qantas A380 Airbus will be as listed:
14 first class seats on the main deck
332 economy seat on the main deck
72 business class seats on the upper deck
32 premium economy seats on the upper deck
Unlike Emirates more unusual configuration by placing its first class passengers in a “sanctuary” on the upper deck, Qantas, has opted to make use of the wider girth on the main deck for its first-class cabin, like Singapore Airline has.
Most of the hype on these new superjumbo planes is the sheer luxury being put forward, as the unique luxury designs roll out of the production line. Seems appropriate to rename this travel era as the ‘Premium Class’ era , making first class a thing of the past.

Marc Newson Designer involved with interior of Qantas A380
Famed industrial designer Marc Newson was given the task of overseeing the design and development of the interiors as creative director.
Qantas is looking to deliver a new level of “comfort, innovation and style” in all classes provided on the new A380 jets.
Qantas will not be going quit as far with its A380’s interiors as Singapore Airlines has with its Suite Class, top of the line bedroom suites, or as Emirates has with an egstravagant shower in the planes front section.
Qantas new A380’s will boast a private lounge area with a large sofa in business class, Suite Class will also be available with seats that convert into a fully flat, extra long bed with a foam mattress, sheepskin overlay and inbuilt massage function. Business class will have enhanced Skybed seats, that also convert into flat beds.
Economy Class has four self-service snack bars, the seats are made by the same company which makes seats for Aston Martin, Recaro. Entertainment systems are equiped with bigger screens and on-demand movies, and internet connections are also available.
