Inibuilds, who recently released a close to 'study level' A300 sim for X-plane 11 is also working on an A380. Interestingly, they are exploring the possibility of releasing this A380 for MSFS 2020 and in fact the only screenshots released so far are in MSFS 2020. They say they are not 'promising anything' so if things don't go well maybe it will end up being for X-Plane, but it is certainly interesting news.

More details:

https://www.inibuilds.com/inidev/2020/12/08/development-update-9

Looks good already! 

Looks really nice!

Does anyone know if the 380 is already dead?  Meaning that, with the help of the pandemic hugely affecting air travel in a negative way, will we ever see them in the real skies anymore once air travel is back to whatever normal it'll be after we consider the pandemic over?

When I spot in my back yard for air traffic overhead using Flightradar24, I still see the Queen in her freighter form on occasion coming into KDFW...but have not seen the Qantas 380 we used to get, and I'm thinkin that the route for her from Sydney is gone forever. 😞  

Anyway....I wonder if any of the freighter conversion outfits are looking to see if she can be converted to a freighter...or it would not be cost effective?  She is a tech wonder, a great aircraft and beautiful in her own way (I still much prefer the Queen aesthetically), and I'd hate to see her short life end as a beer can. 😞

Well iniBuilds mentioned that they are "exploring" if they would develop in MSFS or not. Their A300 is super good in X-Plane and I would defiantly get their A310 once is released next year on X-Plane. However, that "exploring" comments made so many X-Planes fans angry, no idea why would they. I mean MSFS is not going to take over X-Plane market anyway.

Edited December 9, 20205 yr by omarsmak30

Personally I am looking forward to the FBW A380 as that is also looking good and promising and Free!!

 

CJ

24 minutes ago, Steve Dra said:

Anyway....I wonder if any of the freighter conversion outfits are looking to see if she can be converted to a freighter...or it would not be cost effective?

When ths was discussed on PPrune, the informed opinion was that due to the extra weight from strengthening the floors, and other factors, a freight conversion just wouldn't be cost effective, so I suspect that there will be very few A380s flying, even after the pandemic.

24 minutes ago, Steve Dra said:

Looks really nice!

Does anyone know if the 380 is already dead?  Meaning that, with the help of the pandemic hugely affecting air travel in a negative way, will we ever see them in the real skies anymore once air travel is back to whatever normal it'll be after we consider the pandemic over?

When I spot in my back yard for air traffic overhead using Flightradar24, I still see the Queen in her freighter form on occasion coming into KDFW...but have not seen the Qantas 380 we used to get, and I'm thinkin that the route for her from Sydney is gone forever. 😞  

Anyway....I wonder if any of the freighter conversion outfits are looking to see if she can be converted to a freighter...or it would not be cost effective?  She is a tech wonder, a great aircraft and beautiful in her own way (I still much prefer the Queen aesthetically), and I'd hate to see her short life end as a beer can. 😞

They stop building it. But im guessing premium airlines are gonna still fly them, some of them are brand new so that would not make sense to scrap them. And im pretty sure i saw or heard about some going into a freight conversion. Its not dead 🙂

There will still be a small market of A380s from major hubs I would predict (e.g. Emirates, Singapore Airlines, BA). However, I think it's safe to say that C-19 has been the nail in the coffin and sadly the A380's days are numbered. An amazing technical achievement and perhaps the most comfortable aircraft to fly on ever but the market just isn't there yet. It's almost as if it is was developed too early. Like Concorde, I think the A380 will go down as a special icon in aviation.|

RE: X-plane users being angry. I haven't seen this, but I can empathise why they would be - it almost looks like now the certainty the A380 will be released on X-plane has reduced. I suspect that's the simple reason why. However, as a fan of both X-plane and MSFS 2020 I don't really mind which platform it is released on. 

24 minutes ago, leprechaunlive said:

Its not dead 🙂

It's certainly not dead but it is far from heathly. Manufacturing has ceased and airlines are trying to sell them off at very low prices - and not finding buyers. Emirates has a huge fleet - 115 A380-800's. So they will be with Emirates for a long time to come. They are just not as cost efficient in a cost per seat-mile sense as aircraft like the much newer A350 and B787. Plus, the need for a high seat count has been eroded by a desire for fewer seats more frequently (flexibility) and less emphasis on hub and spoke operations, more emphasis on direct flights (convenience). When those things can be achieved at a lower per-seat cost, the future does not look bright for the A380.

I'm surprised that developers are focusing on this and not the A350.

Just now, RaptyrOne said:

It's certainly not dead but it is far from heathly. Manufacturing has ceased and airlines are trying to sell them off at very low prices - and not finding buyers. Emirates has a huge fleet - 115 A380-800's. So they will be with Emirates for a long time to come. They are just not as cost efficient in a cost per seat-mile sense as aircraft like the much newer A350 and B787. Plus, the need for a high seat count has been eroded by a desire for fewer seats more frequently (flexibility) and less emphasis on hub and spoke operations, more emphasis on direct flights (convenience). When those things can be achieved at a lower per-seat cost, the future does not look bright for the A380.

I'm surprised that developers are focusing on this and not the A350.

Yes, i know, but its not dead 🙂

 

And why would they focus on the A350 instead of that?

1 minute ago, leprechaunlive said:

And why would they focus on the A350 instead of that?

Because I want one! 🙂

The flight deck is from the future. Such a good looking aircraft. The A380 is not exactly pretty. My opinion of course. 🙂

Just now, RaptyrOne said:

Because I want one! 🙂

The flight deck is from the future. Such a good looking aircraft. The A380 is not exactly pretty. My opinion of course. 🙂

Allright, make sense 😄

53 minutes ago, Steve Dra said:

Does anyone know if the 380 is already dead?

Maybe not 'dead' but certainly not looking too healthy. As we know, like the updated 747, the A380 was a long-term projected gamble on what manufacturers presumed the airlines wanted, which turned out to be not suited to the business model most airlines have chosen to pursue, wherein what the airlines want in a large-ish jet airliner, is range rather than capacity. But other problems for the A380 in comparison to the 747 if possibly relegating it to freighter use, is how easy/feasible is it to actually convert it to a freighter, and even if you do manage that, how does it fit a freight airline's business model?

On the face of it, a bigger fuselage means you can fit more cargo cans in, assuming the fuselage shape is suited to a usable set of ULD shapes for example a couple of AKEs across-wise or whatever. Butt then you've got to think about strengthening not just one, but possibly two floors for cargo carriage, plus fitting all the powered rollers and such, plus making up to four large access doors, and fitting a presumably quite complex fire suppressions system for two cargo decks, and this is assuming it could get off the deck with such a large amount of cans on board.

Then there is the problem of how easily you actually could load the things into it where ground service vehicles are concerned, and then after all that, you have to figure on which ramps, taxiways and other facilities can actually fit the thing in, and how long do you want the thing on the ground awaiting that many cans too? i.e. does this much capacity even fit a cargo airline's preferred turnaround time to such a point where they would invest in crew and personnel training, equipment purchases and so on.

then you've got this too: I think at the moment there are two Stands at Manchester EGCC which can feasibly serve the A380 on a regular basis for passenger ops, and of these, normally only one is used. For this taxiway shoulders and the ramp areas had to be reinforced and enlarged and even then when the A380 pushes off the stand, service traffic has to be stopped, by the airfield operations vehicles, to prevent it from going around pier C whilst the push is carried out because the A380s wing tip overhangs that service road. For the A380 to operate regularly from EGCC, it would require quite a bit of further taxiway and ramp area modification which might not suit what they already have planned. 

None of this is insurmountable of course, but it doesn't seem particularly feasible either, although things can change. We've seen a massive upturn in cargo ops courtesy of all the online buying people are doing thanks to the pandemic, but with the vaccine being rolled out and a potential end in sight to this trend, it's difficult to predict whether the online buying and resultant increased cargo ops trend would be a long terms thing which would make a freighter A380 conversion a viable choice.

11 minutes ago, RaptyrOne said:

The A380 is not exactly pretty. My opinion of course. 🙂

Nah, it's not just your opinion, the A380 is an impressive engineering feat of course, but it's also one of the fugliest things ever to sprout wings.

20 minutes ago, leprechaunlive said:

Yes, i know, but its not dead 🙂

 

And why would they focus on the A350 instead of that?

Well there already is an A350 for X-plane so if Inibuilds do end up releasing the A380 on X-plane they probably wouldn't want to compete with that. However, recognise for MSFS 2020 the A350 probably has a higher market of users than the A380 sadly. That said, it's crazy that the A380 has not had a good add-on release on any simulation platform. So I suspect if anyone can manage such a feat the dividends will pay off.