A380 Delievered

Despite being nearly 2 years late and too large for most airports, the first Airbus A380 has been delivered to Singapore Airlines, the launch customer.

Airbus has officially handed over the first A380 to Singapore Airlines in a ceremony held at its Delivery Centre Toulouse, France in the presence of over 500 guests. The aircraft was officially handed over to Chew Choon Seng, Chief Executive Office (CEO) of Singapore Airlines by Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders in presence of Chief Executive Officer Rolls-Royce Sir John Rose. Singapore Airlines will be the first to fly the A380 on regular scheduled service.

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Singapore's A380 is powered by four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, which generate 72,000 lbs thrust each. They greatly contribute to the A380’s environmental friendliness. As a result the A380 is setting new environmental benchmarks in air transport. The A380 has an unmatched fuel efficiency of less than three litres per passenger per 100 kilometres.

I'm always encouraged to see the market answering the call for more environmentally friendly technology. In a time when most media reporting on the environment consists basically of "we're all screwed; then ocean is about to swallow us whole, so let's become cave men again," this kind of advance is encouraging.

It's probably going to take technological advances like the A380 and the upcoming Boeing 787 to offset the government officials flying around the world in private jets telling you and me to lessen our carbon footprints.