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A380 on tour as production finally hits its stride

Friday 26/05/2017 - Source: Shephard


AIRBUS is sending one of its A380 prototypes on a tour of Asia-Pacific as production finally starts to ramp up following last year's disastrous hiatus.

Aircraft MSN007, which is fitted with Panasonic's eX2 audio/video-on-demand IFE system, will visit Tokyo Narita on June 4-6, Sydney on June 6-8 and Taipei in Taiwan on June 8-10. Further tours will take the aircraft to North America, the Middle East, China and Asia-Pacific again. Operating under typical airline conditions, the aircraft will undergo airport compatibility checks at each destination.

Meantime, the massive recovery effort occasioned by the production management blunder that left miles of cabling too short to fit is finally beginning to bear fruit.

A380 final assembly is carried out in Toulouse, with the aircraft then being flown to Hamburg to have their airline-specified cabins installed. The first customer aircraft, MSN003, is at Hamburg and is due for inflight tests of its cabin systems this summer in preparation for delivery to Singapore Airlines in October.

SIA's next three aircraft - MSN005, 006 and 008 - have also been delivered to the Airbus cabin centre of excellence. MSN005 is currently receiving its electrical harnesses, with systems testing and cabin furnishing to follow in the summer.

In Toulouse, Emirates Airlines' first aircraft, MSN011 has been completely rewired and is undergoing systems testing in preparation for delivery to Hamburg in October for cabin furnishing and painting.

Three Qantas aircraft -MSN014, 015 and 026 - are also on the Toulouse line. MSN014 is being rewired and will start system testing in mid-July in preparation for transfer to Hamburg early next year. MSN015 and MSN026 are structurally complete: 015 is being rewired and will enter systems testing in October, MSN026 will be the first airframe to receive correctly manufactured electrical harnesses.

Entry-into-service training of flight and cabin crews and maintenance staff is also in full swing, with courses under way on customer premises and at the Airbus Training Centre in Toulouse. Training of Singapore Airlines' own cabin crew instructors -which included the use of the Cabin Emergency Evacuation Trainer (CEET) in Toulouse - was completed in the middle of last year. Courses for Qantas and Emirates cabin crew are due to begin early next year.


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