Emirates welcomes 100th A380 to its fleet

Emirates celebrates the milestone delivery of its 100th Airbus A380 aircraft at a special ceremony with Airbus at the manufacturer’s delivery center in Hamburg.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Emirates’ chairman and CEO officiated the ceremony. He was joined at the event by Sir Tim Clark, president Emirates Airline; Tom Enders, Airbus CEO; Dominic Horwood, Rolls-Royce, director — Customer and Services; Ali Al-Ahmed, UAE Ambassador to Germany and Frank Horch, senator for economy, transport and innovation of the city of Hamburg.
Sheikh Ahmed said: “This is a tremendous moment for Emirates, for Airbus and for our many partners involved in the A380 program. There is no doubt that the A380 has had a big positive impact on aerospace manufacturing and the broader aviation industry, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs and stimulating innovation and new product development in many related areas such as ground handling, catering, airport facilities and cabin products, to name a few.
“Importantly, the A380 also brought the flying experience for our customers to the next level. The aircraft itself is a showpiece of engineering. It is the world’s largest commercial passenger jet but it is quiet and efficient and at Emirates we’ve utilized the onboard real estate to redefine the thinking around inflight products and experience. Our flight crew love to fly it and our customers love to fly in it.”
Horwood said: “We would like to congratulate Emirates on this momentous occasion. We are very proud to be powering their 100th Airbus A380 and look forward to building on our strong relationship in years to come.”
Powered by Rolls-Royce engines, Emirates’ 100th A380 is configured in three cabin classes, with 14 private suites in First class, 76 seats in Business and 426 seats in Economy. It also features the airline’s newly revamped Onboard Lounge. It will be on display at the upcoming Dubai Air Show and will enter service afterwards.
The Emirates A380 program creates and supports manufacturing jobs across the global aircraft manufacturing supply chain. Airbus estimates that Emirates’ A380 orders alone support 41,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs in Europe, including some 14,500 in Germany alone. These are high-skilled jobs and impact a high-value supply chain, creating a significant multiplier effect in the countries where Airbus has aircraft production facilities. The estimated Europe-wide impact of Emirates’ A380 investment amounts to €3.4 billion in GDP in 2013/14. In Germany and France the GDP impact is €1.2 billion for each country.