Published: 18/01/2012   RSS

Sister website Business Traveller brings you the definitive guide to current A380 operators Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qantas, Air France, Lufthansa and Korean Air, plus details of forthcoming carriers China Southern, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways.

South Korea’s flag carrier Korean Air took delivery of its first A380 on May 24 from the Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, and put the aircraft into service on routes from Seoul to Tokyo and Hong Kong from mid June.

The carrier is the first airline to dedicate the entire upper deck of the aircraft to business class, with 94 Prestige sleeper seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. (For more information see online news January 18). However SIA has revealed it will also move to an all-business class upper deck on its new A380 deliveries (see online news May 23).

The upper deck of the Korean Air superjumbo features an onboard bar and lounge area for business and first class passengers, with smart blue and white seating, a flatscreen TV and bar area.

The lower deck features 12 first class and 301 economy seats, making a total of 407 on board the aircraft, the lowest number of seats for any A380 operator so far. SIA will offer 409 seats with its new A380 configuration.

Korean Air also offers an inflight Duty Free "showcase" at the back of the lower deck, occupying a space equivalent to 13 economy seats (see online news April 18).

It’s not the first time that an A380 operator has opted to use some of its precious onboard space for something other than seating – Emirates has showers in its first class cabins, while Qantas has a lounge area for its premium passengers located at the front of the upper deck, Air France has a digital gallery also at the front of the upper deck, and SIA famously offers double beds in first class.

Having two full passenger decks has given the six A380 operators plenty of scope in terms of aircraft configuration, and as you can see from this table each carrier has opted for distinct layouts. The only constants are the presence of an economy cabin on the lower deck (albeit in some cases in conjunction with a smaller economy cabin on the upper deck), and all six airlines have opted to place business class on the upper deck.

The carriers disagree on the best place for their first class cabins, with Emirates and Lufthansa opting for the upper deck, and Qantas, SIA, Air France and Korean Air all choosing to locate their most premium seats on the lower deck. Note that Qantas A380 aircraft delivered after 2012 will not feature first class at all, and these planes will also see a different configuration in economy, premium economy and business class (see online news February 18, 2010).

It should also be noted that both Emirates and Air France have more than one configuration for their A380 aircraft. In the case of Emirates the carrier has a 489-seat layout which includes a crew rest area at the back of the economy cabin, necessary for its longest flights served by the superjumbo, whereas routes to the UK, for instance, use A380s without this crew area, meaning there are an additional 28 economy seats in the cabin.

Air France currently has both three and four-class A380 aircraft, as its original superjumbos were launched without the carrier’s new Premium Voyageur (premium economy) class, and so feature a total of 538 seats in an economy, business and first class layout. Newer deliveries have seen 69 economy seats on the upper deck being replaced by 38 Premium Voyageur seats (see online news February 18 for more information). The carrier plans to gradually retrofit its existing three-class A380 aircraft with the new seating.

In terms of economy Korean Air has the fewest seats at 301, followed by SIA's new A380 configuration at 311, then Qantas at 332, which along with Air France is one of only two A380 carriers to offer a premium economy cabin.

Emirates' A380s configured without the crew rest area have the largest economy offering at 427 seats, followed by the Lufthansa aircraft at 420 (all on the lower deck), while Air France has the most seats overall at 538, some 131 seats more than the Korean Air 407-seat layout. But all of the current capacities will pale into insignificance compared to the 840-seat layout planned by Air Austral (see online news January 19, 2009).

Forthcoming A380 operators

China Southern will be the next carrier to take delivery of its A380 aircraft in the autumn of 2011, with the superjumbo initially operating on domestic routes from Beijing to Shanghai and Guangzhou. The carrier has now launched a dedicated microsite for its A380 launch at csair-a380.com, although at present it is in Mandarin only.

The airline has five A380s on order, and recently confirmed it would operate the aircraft with a three-class layout, featuring eight first class seats, 70 business class seats and 428 economy seats (see online news July 27).

Malaysia Airlines will take delivery of the first of its six A380 aircraft next spring. The carrier plans to fly the superjumbo on key routes including London and Amsterdam, and the aircraft will be the first to feature Malaysia Airlines' premium economy product (see online news January 24, 2010).

Thai Airways will also take delivery of its first superjumbo in 2012, and will configure the aircraft for 507 seats, with the whole of the lower deck dedicated to economy, and first, business and a second smaller economy cabin upstairs. The carrier has released a CGI video showing the interiors of its A380 aircraft (see online news July 20).

Other airlines which have ordered the Airbus A380 include British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Asiana, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and Skymark Airlines. Business Traveller will update this page as more details become available, so please add it to your bookmarks to stay up to date.

Useful links

Businesstraveller.com and seatplans.com have a wealth of information on the airlines currently operating A380 aircraft, from images and videos, to seatplans and flight reviews.

Here are just a few links for each A380 carrier which you may find useful - for a full list of all A380 articles published by Business Traveller, including new routes and product information, click here.

For a table showing the seating layouts on the lower and upper decks and across all classes for each A380 operator, click here.

Korean Air

• The launch
• Test flight images
• Onboard Duty Free store
• Factory rollout video
• The seatplan

Lufthansa

• The launch
• The first class cabin
• The seatplan
• Video of Lufthansa A380 premiere at Frankfurt
• Seatplans Lufthansa A380 user-generated flight reviews

Singapore Airlines

• The first class suites
• The seatplan
• Business class Tried and Tested review
• Seatplans SIA A380 user-generated flight reviews

Emirates

• The lowdown
• The seatplan
• Business class Tried and Tested review
• First class Tried and Tested review
• Seatplans Emirates A380 user-generated flight reviews
• Emirates A380 struck by lightning

Qantas

• The lowdown
• The seatplan
• Business class Tried and Tested review
• Video of engine failure damage to Qantas A380
• Seatplans Qantas A380 user-generated flight reviews

Air France

• The lowdown
• Three-class seatplan
• Four-class seatplan
• Video of Air France A380 clipping a Delta aircraft at JFK
• Seatplans Air France A380 user-generated flight reviews

China Southern

• The seatplan
• China Southern's A380 makes maiden flight

Malaysia Airlines

• Malaysia Airlines' A380 to feature premium economy
• MAS plans A380 services to London and Amsterdam
• MAS to ban babies in A380 first class

Thai Airways

• The seatplan
• Thai Airways A380 interior video
• Thai Airways reveals A380 seat specifications
• Thai unveils plans for A380 routes

By Mark Caswell