Twelve months after the A380 began its initial (and short-lived) scheduled service to the U.S. and as approaches a first round of 6,000-hour/two-year maintenance checks, operators of the very large airliner (VLA) have testified to its reliability and, barring a few well-publicised hiccups, its generally smooth entry into service.

Arab carrier Emirates Airline began its A380 operations with an inaugural flight from its Dubai home base in the United Arab Emirates to New York on 1 August last year , a service that ran through the past northern winter until the aircraft was assigned to new services opening from Dubai to Toronto and Bangkok.

Launch customer Singapore Airlines (SIA) had kicked off A380 operations in October 2007 and now is preparing to hangar the first aircraft for its initial C Check-equivalent maintenance. By July 2009, maintenance subsidiary SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC) had performed 29 A380 ‘A’ checks. Remaining operator Qantas Airways of Australia expects to receive its fourth example of the VLA this month and its next two in October, of which one is about to fly with the other running about three weeks behind it). Qantas has deferred delivery of a further four (Numbers 7 to 10) by up to a year in reaction to the worldwide economic crisis.

Meanwhile, European flag-carriers and Air France and Lufthansa German Airlines are preparing to accept their first examples. Air France's fourth A380 is expected to fly this week, three earlier aircraft now being painted and outfitted ahead of delivery.

This year's outstanding deliveries are believed to include SIA's tenth aircraft, Emirates's sixth and seventh A380s, and Air France's initial two examples. Apparent 2010 deliveries are to SIA (four), Emirates (six), Qantas (two), Air France (three), and Lufthansa (five). Other candidates, especially if Airbus accelerates production beyond 20/year, are the first for Korean Air and A380 MSN002, the early flight-test aircraft acquired for private operation.

By July, the 17 A380s in service had carried more than two million passengers, with 5,500 Qantas services having generated some 50,000 revenue flight hours. Airbus A380 product marketing manager Julian Manhes says that Qantas is operating 6,000-nautical-mile Melbourne-Los Angeles flights with "the full 450-passenger capacity and cargo without any range problems." Overall, the three operators serve 12 destinations: Auckland, Bangkok, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and Toronto, while the behemoth has flown into 85 airports worldwide.

SIA is using the A380 to replace Boeing 747-400s on services to London and Sydney and 777-300ERs on Paris and Tokyo flights. For Emirates, the VLA has replaced the 777-300ERs from Dubai to Bangkok, London, and Toronto, and Airbus A340-500s/777-300ERs to Auckland and Sydney. Typically, the displaced aircraft are used to increase frequencies on other busy services and/or add capacity in expanding markets.

Qantas also has put the A380 on former 747-400 routes: Sydney-Singapore-London and Sydney-Los Angeles (both three times/week) and Melbourne-Los Angeles (twice/week). The arrival of a fourth aircraft this month will see the Australian carrier increase Sydney services to London to five/week and to Los Angeles to four/week. Aircraft numbers 5 and 6 will be put on the Los Angeles and London routes.

What has been launch customers' experience in bringing the A380 into operation? SIA says it has performed "extremely well," with service entry "one of the smoothest of any new aircraft type." Emirates has found it "truly extraordinary" to fly on and in performance. "Most importantly, the feedback from passengers [has] been exceptional and very positive. [The A380 has] totally changed the air travel experience and we're very proud of that."

For Qantas also, the experience has been "exceptional, from both operational and customer perspectives. Expectations have been more than met. The A380 entry into service compares favourably with [that of] the 747-400 in 1989."

While Airbus has resisted any temptation to quantify the A380's technical despatch reliability, citing lack of a meaningful volume of data given the small fleet, operators are less reticent and have acknowledged that new aircraft entering service often will exhibit "bugs." "The A380s have performed extremely well," according to SIA. "Very few technical problems were encountered and [these] were quickly solved. The [General Electric/Pratt & Whitney GP7200] engine has performed to specification. It is still early to comment about fuel-burn guarantees, but we have not had any issues." SIAEC says that in the early days of A380 operations, it had to change "a significant number of big and heavy components," which has led it to improve ways of using special hoists and tools to expedite such operations.

Emirates cites the A380's fuel economy, saying it burns "up to 20% less fuel/seat than today's next-largest aircraft" and generates "less than half the [take-off] noise of other aircraft." The Dubai carrier acknowledges "there have some minor issues – teething problems, if you like – which we've addressed. For example, an early Emirates experience involved a "foreign object" that caused an avionics-bay electrical problem that in turn grounded its first A380. But it praised the manufacturer's efforts in quickly curing the problem. The aircraft had otherwise been demonstrating "high despatch reliability."

'Technical issues are expected with [any] new aircraft, particularly one that uses many new technologies,' says Emirates. Its confidence in the A380 'remains unchanged; it is an excellent aircraft."

Qantas reports despatch reliability has been good and that its "expectations have been met," but like Emirates concedes at least minor initial difficulties. "A small number of technical issues impacted operations for a short period, but generally we have been happy with the aircraft’s reliability [in] the first 12 months of operating a brand new fleet type."

The Australian carrier says that early operators of new designs will "always" experience teething problems. "We did encounter a fuel-tank indication 'issue' that affected two aircraft and a nose wheel steering 'issue' on one. We have worked closely with Airbus to ensure [such events] are resolved quickly."
Qantas concludes: "A lot of work was done by Airbus to deliver a mature product. As with all new aircraft programs, exposure to commercial operation reveals some areas where improvements need to be made."

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