Airbus matching milestones with Boeing, delivered its 100th A380 super-jumbo to national carrier Malaysia Airlines, the airline’s sixth aircraft registration 9M-MNF.
Now in its sixth year of commercial service, the A380 is flying with nine world class airlines. To date, the worldwide fleet has carried some 36 million passengers in 100,000 flights.
The delivery to an Asian carrier is subtle in its signals. About 65% of current A380 capacity is to, from, or within the Asia-Pacific region, with more than 50,000 seats offered on nearly 500 flights every week. Europe has about 250 weekly services, and North America, 200.
Overall, A380s regularly operate at more than 30 airports globally on 65 scheduled routes with nine current airlines: Air France, China Southern, Emirates, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways International.
Airbus projects a demand of 1,700 VLA (Very Large Aircraft of 400 seats or more) over the next 20 years. Asia Pacific leads demand at 45%, the Middle East 23% and Europe 19%.
Airbus has also produced a neat little Infographic which is shared below.