Miami Lands Flagship A380

Long-term forecast sees resilience, sound growth potential for aviation in the region

June 10 marked an important milestone for Airbus, Lufthansa and Miami – the Gateway City to Latin America –thanks to the arrival of A380.

Now offering daily flights from Miami to Frankfurt, Miami International Airport becomes the fifth airport in the United States to fly the A380. While the A380 is yet to fly into Latin America, passengers from the region traveling to Europe can now fly the A380 via this new route by connecting through Miami.

The Airbus A380 is the world’s most fuel-efficient and biggest civil aircraft, burning about 12 percent less fuel than other wide-body jets. Approximately 30 percent quieter than the current generation of wide-body aircraft, the A380 has achieved more than a quarter of a million hours and carried more than 12 million passengers, helping customers like Lufthansa achieve load factors north of 80 percent.

Lufthansa now provides its flagship A380 service from Frankfurt to six destinations worldwide, including Beijing, Johannesburg, Miami, New York’s JFK International Airport, San Francisco and Tokyo. The airline has ordered a total of 15 A380 aircraft, all scheduled for delivery by 2015, which will make Lufthansa the largest A380 operator in Europe.

Only a week after Lufthansa’s maiden Miami flight, Singapore Airlines - the first carrier to inaugurate revenue service in 2007 - received its latest A380, bringing the airliner’s total number of delivered A380s to 12. The A380 has also had its biggest year in Asia in 2011 so far, with new operators and customers including Korean Air, China Southern, Asiana and Skymark. During the recent Paris Airshow, Skymark placed a firm order for two more A380s, bringing Japan’s third largest and fast growing airline’s total order to six for the superjumbo jet. The Japanese carrier plans to start operations with the A380 on international routes linking Narita to destinations in Europe and the U.S.

With 234 firm orders from 18 customers and 50 aircraft delivered, the A380 is currently flown by Singapore, Emirates, Qantas, Air France, Lufthansa and Korean Air.

For more information contact:
Liana Sucar-Hamel
Communications Manager, Latin America & Caribbean
Liana.sucar-hamel@airbus.com