Aircraft

For more news, pictures and information about the Airbus A380 please visit our A380 page

Air France will take delivery of its first Airbus A380 in spring 2009, configuring the type with 538 seats and deploying it on initial operations to the US East Coast and Japan.

The carrier, which has 12 A380s on order, confirmed its delivery schedule, routes and configuration during the type's first visit to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport earlier this month.

The A380s will be equipped with a three class 538-seat layout - a relatively dense configuration by comparison with other A380 operators that have declared their seat counts. Airbus said recently that the average of the declared A380 three-class seat counts was "around 505".

The upper deck of Air France's A380s will hold 186 seats - 80 business class and 106 economy. On the main deck there will be 352 seats - nine first class and 343 economy.

It plans to use its Engine Alliance GP7200-powered A380s to develop its dense long-haul routes, where traffic is on the increase, but is limited by saturated frequencies and slots. The airline is building a new A380 hangar at Charles de Gaulle. This facility is under construction and is due for completion next year.

• Air France confirms A380 plan
• Airbus A380 flight-test in full - our report from Toulouse
• A380 recovery effort gathers momentum

For more news, pictures and information about the Airbus A380 please visit our A380 page