Airbus took decades to develop the A380 — a project announced in 1990 to compete with the Boeing 747. When the airliner first entered service with Singapore Airlines in 2007, it became the world’s largest passenger jet.
Flying is one of the most carbon-intensive activities — yet it contributes just 2.5% of the world’s carbon emissions. How does this add up? Well, almost everyone in the world does not fly. Studies estimate that just 10% of the world flies in most years.
Between 1990 and 2019, both passenger and freight demand has approximately quadrupled. More people are flying, and more stuff is being moved around. In 2019, passengers traveled more than 8 trillion kilometers: that’s about the same as a light year.
Airplanes emit around 100 times more CO2 per hour than a shared bus or train ride, and the emissions of global aviation are around 1 billion tons of CO2 per year — more than the emissions of most countries, including Germany.
Aviation contributes an estimated 2.4% of global annual CO2 emissions, most of it from commercial travel. In 2018, there were 4.3 billion passenger journeys recorded.
The COVID-19 pandemic halted global travel and reduced aviation by 45% in 2020, but CO2 emissions persist for hundreds of years, so all emissions from all past flights are still at play.
New research that provides the most comprehensive calculations of aviation’s impact on the climate finds that global air travel and transport is responsible for 3.5% of all drivers of climate change from human activities.
The study, published in the journal Atmospheric Environment, evaluated all of the aviation industry’s contributing factors to climate change, including emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx).
And the effect of contrails and contrail cirrus – short-lived clouds created in jet engine exhaust plumes at aircraft cruise altitudes that reflect sunlight during the day and trap heat trying to escape at night.
Now, airlines seem to be falling back in love with the super-jumbo.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Qantas has announced plans to resume A380 flights between Sydney and Dallas from August 2025, for the first time since before the pandemic.
Global Airlines, a British startup, has already acquired one A380 formerly owned by China Southern as part of its plan to fly between London Gatwick and New York’s JFK airport.
Based on fleet data from Ch-aviation and route data from Cirium, Business Insider has compiled a list of every airline operating the A380 and the routes they’re planning to fly in November — the start of the 2024-25 winter schedule.
Ten airlines operate the A380, with Emirates flying far more than any other carrier. Here’s what all 84 routes look like on the map.
Dubai’s airline is by far the world’s largest operator of the A380. Emirates has 118, 27 of which are in storage or maintenance, per Ch-aviation data.
That means three in every five of the world’s active A380s are operated by Emirates.
Other Middle Eastern airlines are luxurious, but Emirates’ Airbus A380 is perhaps the most opulent. In business class, you can visit the bar or even book a shower.
Emirates’ plethora of planes comes with a similarly broad route map. Brace yourself for an extensive list.
Emirates flies the A380 between Dubai and Amman, Jordan; Amsterdam; Auckland, New Zealand; Bangkok; Barcelona; Bengaluru, India; Birmingham, England; Brisbane, Australia; Cairo; Casablanca, Morocco; Denpasar, Indonesia; Düsseldorf, Germany; Frankfurt, Germany.
Also Glasgow, Scotland; Hong Kong; Houston; Istanbul; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Johannesburg; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; London Gatwick; London Heathrow; Los Angeles; Madrid; Manchester, England; Melbourne, Australia; Milan; Moscow; Mumbai, India;
New York; Nice, France; Osaka, Japan; Paris; Perth, Australia; Mauritius; Rome; San Francisco; São Paulo; Seoul; Singapore; Sydney; Taipei, Taiwan; Tokyo Narita; Toronto; Vienna; Washington, DC; and Zurich.
Emirates also serves Christchurch, New Zealand via Sydney as a fifth-freedom flight. Plus, flights on the super-jumbo are available direct between Milan and New York, or between Bangkok and Hong Kong.
ABC Flash Point News 2024.
