The double-decker Airbus A380 is an aircraft that heralded great promise but was ultimately left behind by a changing airline industry. Nonetheless, the story of its development remains a fascinating one. Airbus formulated the project to take on Boeing's iconic 747, which had a monopoly on ultra-high capacity services. The A380's design process saw several interesting ideas put forward, including a twin-fuselage A340 concept.

The origins of the A380

When the Boeing 747 entered service with Pan Am in January 1970, it represented a watershed moment for aviation. The double-decker design offered far higher capacity than existing airliners, and its conspicuous humped silhouette became a hallmark of long-haul travel. It would dominate the ultra-high capacity market for decades to come.

However, by the late-1980s, Airbus had secretly begun planning an aircraft to rival the 747's dominance in this market. At the 1990 Farnborough Airshow, it announced that it wanted its end product to have 15% lower operating costs than the 747. Over the next decade, it considered several designs for this project, with some being rather unorthodox.

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Airbus A340 A380
Photo: Flying Camera | Shutterstock

Two parallel A340 fuselages

According to Colins College, one of the designs proposed for the A3XX (the project codename) was a twin-fuselage design featuring two A340 bodies. The A340 had entered service with Lufthansa and Air France in March 1993. At the time, it was Airbus's largest jetliner, and effectively doubling its capacity would have seen Airbus rival the 747 in terms of seats offered.

Over the course of aviation history, several twin-fuselage designs such as this proposal have graced the skies. However, very few of these have been airliners, with the design generally being used more commonly among experimental and military aircraft. Anyhow, those that did carry passengers (such as the Savoia-Marchetti S.55 and S.66 flying boats, and the Blériot 125) were from the inter-war period. As such, a twin-A340 fuselage A380 may have seemed a backward step for Airbus.

In any case, it ultimately elected not to proceed with this design. The European manufacturer eventually settled on a double-decker aircraft that it christened the A380. The 'superjumbo' first flew in April 2005 and entered service with Singapore Airlines in October 2007.

The A340 and A380 today

The last three years have seen the fortunes of the A340 and A380 fall and rise once more. At the start of the pandemic, nearly every airline retired or placed their quad-engine fleets in long-term storage, claiming little chance they would return to active service. However, 2022 saw many of these aircraft make their way back into active service.

Lufthansa is one rare airline that continues to operate both the A340 and A380, which it expects will return in the coming months. The A380 is slated for a return in summer 2023, while 27 A340s are already flying after their grounding. SWISS also operates five A340-300s, while there are many operators dotted across the globe.

Lufthansa A340 A380
Photo: Mario Hagen | Shutterstock

The A380 has seen an even greater resurgence, with 70% of all global operators planning to fly the aircraft this year. Even Etihad, which long said its fleet was unlikely to return, is bringing back the superjumbo next year. Meanwhile, Emirates remains the largest operator (more than the rest combined), with Singapore Airlines, ANA, Korean Air, Qantas, Qatar Airways, British Airways, and Asiana.

Did you know about this twin-fuselage proposal for the A380? How do you think the aircraft would have fared had it been built like this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Source: Colins College

  • rsz_airbus_50th_years_anniversary_formation_flight_-_air_to_air
    Airbus
    Stock Code:
    AIR
    Date Founded:
    1970-12-18
    CEO:
    Guillaume Faury
    Headquarters Location:
    Toulouse, France
    Key Product Lines:
    Airbus A220, Airbus A320, Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Airbus A350, Airbus A380
    Business Type:
    Planemaker