The final Airbus A380 fuselage has been assembled. The assembly marks the end of an era as the A380 program draws to a close just 15 years after the aircraft’s first flight.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Airbus A380 assembly line is slowly drawing to a close. After all, we’ve known about the end of the A380 program for a year and a half now, with some A380s already having been retired.
In February Simple Flying reported that the final A380 fuselage had made the journey to Toulouse. Well, now the fuselage has finished its initial construction. This means that Airbus’ manufacturing station 40 is now out of work.
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The final aircraft assembly was spotted by Aviation Toulouse (@frenchpainter) on Twitter:
The last one ! 😭Initial assembly of msn 272, the last #Airbus #A380 is completed, it was transferred from station 40 to station 35 this morning. 🇦🇪 #AvGeek #Toulouse pic.twitter.com/wvKDqKyLil
— Aviation Toulouse (@Frenchpainter) September 23, 2020
Nine deliveries outstanding
The final Airbus to be assembled carries the manufacturer’s serial number 272. It is one of nine outstanding deliveries of the A380. Eight aircraft are due to go to Emirates, the largest A380 carrier, while the additional A380 is due to be delivered to Japanese carrier ANA. For the time being it seems as though both airlines are delaying future A380 deliveries given the current aviation situation.
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