The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner. It is the world's largest passenger airliner; many airports have upgraded their facilities to accommodate it because of its size. Initially named Airbus A3XX, Airbus designed the aircraft to challenge Boeing's monopoly in the large-aircraft market; the A380 made its first flight on 27 April 2005 and began commercial service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines.
The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage, with a width equivalent to a wide-body aircraft. This gives the A380-800's cabin 478 square metres (5,145.1 sq ft) of floor space, which is 40% more than the next-largest airliner, the Boeing 747-8,[4] and provides seating for 525 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 853 people in all-economy class configurations. The A380-800 has a design range of 15,700 kilometres (8,500 nmi; 9,800 mi), sufficient to fly nonstop from New York City to Hong Kong, and a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 (about 900 km/h or 560 mph; 490 kn at cruising altitude).
As of November 2013 Airbus has received 259 firm orders and delivered 119 aircraft. Emirates has ordered the most A380s with 90 as of November 2013.[2]