OAG Travel News

October 25, 2009, marked the second anniversary of the first commercial flight by the Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft.  Singapore Airlines inaugurated this airplane with a flight from Singapore (SIN) to Sydney, Australia (SYD).
Over the past two years, the A380 has logged nearly 9,000 flight operations.  Three airlines are currently operating scheduled passenger flights on the Airbus A380 – Emirates, Qantas and Singapore.  Air France will become the first European airline to join this elite group.  In fact, Air France will take delivery of its first A380 on October 30, 2009, at a ceremony in Hamburg, Germany.  Service between Paris (CDG) and New York (JFK) will be inaugurated on November 20, 2009.
By the end of 2009, a total of 14 airports around the world will handle service on the A380 on a regular basis.  Singapore Changi Airport has the distinction as the busiest Airbus A380 airport in the world – nearly one in three Airbus A380 flights touchdown in Singapore.  London Heathrow (LHR), Sydney (SYD), Dubai (DXB), and Tokyo/Narita (NRT) round out the busiest A380 airports.
There are currently 19 A380s that have been delivered to customers, and all are in operation.  The seating configuration for the A380 varies by airline.  All Qantas A380s have 450 seats; all Singapore A380s and Air France A380s have 471 seats; and all Emirates A380s have 489 seats.
An additional 180 Airbus A380s are on order by 14 airlines and one leasing company.  Emirates is the largest customer of A380s and will have a total of 58 in its fleet when deliveries are complete.  Qantas (20), Singapore (19), Lufthansa (15), Air France (12) and British Airways (12) round out the top five Airbus A380 customers.
Qantas has the distinction of operating both the longest and the shortest A380 routes.  The longest A380 route measures 7,920 statute miles, the distance between Melbourne, Australia (MEL) and Los Angeles, USA (LAX).  The shortest A380 route measures 1340 statute miles, the distance between Sydney and Auckland, New Zealand (AKL).
After two short years, the Airbus A380 story is only at the beginning; many more exciting milestones lie ahead.

Source: Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Tapes; Airbus Web site and news reports.