Airbus has delivered the world’s last A380 super jet passenger plane – which is the world’s largest airliner – to the Emirates airline, bringing an end to a 14-year era.

The delivery of the A380, whose serial number is MSN272, by Airbus to the airline Emirates was scheduled to take place yesterday (Thursday 16th December) and was set to be low-key due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Airbus released a statement, saying: “The story of the A380 is closely linked to Emirates. In the early 2000s, Airbus launched the A380 in response to airport congestion by creating an aircraft capable of serving global hubs.

“An ambition shared by Emirates, whose unique geographical position allows them to connect Dubai to all the world’s airports such as Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, Singapore or Sydney, creating the possibility to fly more than 500 passengers around the world on one aircraft.

“Emirates’ appetite for the A380 is insatiable: with 123 A380s delivered, 50 destinations and 12 maintenance centres, the airline is unquestionably a major A380 customer.”

Bertrand George, the Head of the A380 programme, said: “Emirates has built its growth and success with the A380. Each new A380 is an opportunity for Emirates to offer passengers a new experience in terms of cabin comfort and choice of destination, taking full advantage of the business model offered by the A380.”

He added: “The A380 has enabled the four Airbus countries to work together and adopt common development and industrialisation methods. Overcoming our historical national heritage has been a huge challenge that made Airbus the integrated company we currently know.”

Airbus added in its statement: “Beyond this new collaboration with Emirates, Airbus is continuing to fully support all A380 operators and their fleets on over 70 destinations around the world. Since its entry into service in 2007, the iconic A380 has flown over 800,000 flights carrying more than 300 million passengers.”

This A380 was the last to be delivered after airlines started preferring slightly smaller aeroplanes.