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With Boeing working on a B797 aircraft, will Airbus ever manufacture an A390? Aircraft manufacturers are constantly working to build newer, greater aircraft. With this in mind, it is almost certain that Airbus will one day release a new aeroplane. They could name this the A390 behind the A380, however, A360 and A370 are also free numbers. The question is more about what the aircraft would entail, and when this aircraft would be released.

Bigger Than An A380?

Following the huge success of the B747, Airbus jumped onto the double passenger deck bus with the A380. The A380 is a marvel of engineering, always turning heads wherever it flies. Unfortunately, it isn’t the same story for the Airbus sales team. Airbus is struggling to sell the aircraft in large volumes. This is because the aircraft fills a very niche market, flying lots of people on high-density long haul routes.

But with passenger numbers expected to double by 2036, there could be an ever increasing need for a large aircraft like the A380/potential A390. Why? Passenger numbers are growing massively, but certain airports are not. If you take London Heathrow for example, it’s capacity is full and the airport not going to have its expansion finished for years, so we could see a greater demand for super-sized aircraft.

The first A380 aircraft are already being retired, with some already at aircraft graveyards.

The situation is such that Singapore Airlines, the first company to operate the A380, has already retired some of its early A380 aircraft. The first now belongs to HiFly, a leasing company who are currently leasing the aircraft to Norwegian. If that’s not bad enough for the project, an A380 has already ended up in an aircraft graveyard. This is extremely worrying for an aircraft that took its first flight 13 years ago and was designed with a life of at least 40 years in mind.

What Does This Mean?

This means that if Airbus was to build an A390 aircraft, it would almost certainly not be a double deck aircraft, following the very limited success of the A380 program. Instead, it is more likely that the company will invest its time and money into making the aircraft more fuel efficient than current aircraft. At the same time, they will be trying to increase the range, while not decreasing the useful payload.

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In Fact, Airbus is currently in the process of testing a completely new wing design called “BLADE”. BLADE stands for Breakthrough Laminar Aircraft Demonstrator in Europe. Using the principle of Laminar Flow, the aircraft’s wing is aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by cutting the friction of the wing tip. The wing is fitted to an A340-300, which is affectionately called Flight Lab by the company.

Aiming to bring a 50% reduction of wing friction and up to five percent lower CO 2 emission

Conclusion

While there will almost certainly be a new Airbus aircraft one day, nobody knows for certain when this will be, or what it will be called. The company is in the middle of the rollout for its latest aircraft, the A350. Over the next few years, it is likely that the manufacturer will focus on boosting the A350 program. However, with the new B797 under development, Airbus may soon find that they have a new aircraft to compete with. Only time will tell.