On December 19, 2000, the news the industry was waiting for finally broke—the Airbus supervisory board had voted to launch the A380, the new name for the A3XX.
But why A380, rather than A350 or A360, both of which had been the next logical designations in the Airbus numbering system? Although the use of the numeral 8 was already believed to be good luck to many Asian cultures, and therefore a consideration toward the large customer base of the region, Forgeard said the final designation was selected because “8 suggests double-decks, one on top of the other.”
The first variant was therefore to be the A380-800, replacing the A3XX-100, while the reduced-capacity 480-seater variant previously dubbed the A3XX-50R was renamed the A380-700. The stretched A3XX-200 was now known as the A380-900, while a longer-range derivative of the baseline A3XX-100 was to be called the A380-800R, and the freighter version the -800F.
Then there was the question of using the higher-end -700/-800/-900 designations for the derivatives straight out of the box. Airbus Chief Commercial Officer John Leahy said that this approach was taken because the three versions were fully developed aircraft and the -100/-200/-300 designations would be subject to earlier obsolescence and therefore lower residual values.
Manfred Bischoff, chairman of the Airbus supervisory board and EADS co-chairman, said, “Airbus has a new flagship. This is a major breakthrough for Airbus as a full-range competitor on world markets. We are convinced that this aircraft will have a bright and extremely successful future. It will be proof of the outstanding capabilities and skills of Europe’s aerospace industry and represents a completely new generation of technology in the field of aircraft manufacturing and air travel. I am personally very proud and happy to give the go-ahead for a project that I fought for since 1989.”