KING OF THE SKY SHOWDOWN

Airbus A380 vs. Boeing 747: The Ultimate Double-Decker Showdown

I have yet to meet an aviation enthusiast that doesn’t like the 747. After all, it’s an iconic airliner that changed the industry. On the other hand, the A380’s reception has been mixed – while there are enthusiasts who love it, there are also those who don’t.

In this article, I decided to look at how the two double-deckers compare to each other in a variety of aspects ranging from their history, looks, size, and capacity, all the way to their price and commercial success.

So, let’s get the A380 vs. 747 battle started!

History: The 747 is more than 35 years older than the A380.

Having first flown in 1969 and entered into commercial operation on January 22, 1970, with Pan American World Airways, the Boeing 747 also known as the “Queen of the Skies” has been around for quite some time.

Since then, the original 747-100 was followed by several variants including the commercially most successful 747-400 and the latest 747-8. And, the aircraft has served a wide range of operators ranging from passenger and cargo airlines all the way to various government and military organizations.

Mahan Air is the last passenger airline still operating a classic Boeing 747.

While quite a few aircraft types were introduced after the A380, having first flown on April 25, 2005, it’s relatively young.

Unfortunately, though, it didn’t enjoy as much success as the 747 did. In fact, even though Airbus had plans to produce a freighter version of the “superjumbo” as well, those plans never came to fruition.

Singapore Airlines was the first airline to receive the Airbus A380.

Look: The A380 can never match the 747’s iconic shape.

Now, let’s take at some of the two type’s characteristic features. While they are both four-engine aircraft and double-deckers, that is where the similarities end.

Among other things, depending on the version, the 747 uses nothing on its wingtips, winglets,  or raked wingtips, while the A380 (what used to be Airbus’ signature) wingtip fences. The biggest difference, though, lies in their overall look cause by the difference in their upper decks.

Wing of the 747-400. Notice the winglet on its end.

 

While the A380 has a full-length upper deck which makes it look massive, the 747 has a hump just in the front part of the aircraft – a feature that gives it its iconic look and makes it the, perhaps, most widely recognized aircraft type in the world.

 747 during sunset

The 747’s unique design is partially a result of the fact that around the time the aircraft’s first version was designed, there was a strong belief that supersonic aircraft would take over the passenger market in the future, and the likes of the 747 would be left to carry cargo.

Size: 747-8s are 3.6 meters longer than the A380s.

At 72.72 meters long, Airbus A380 is the second longest aircraft in the world.

The shortest variant of Boeing 747, the 747SP is 56.3 meters long while the other than the latest 747-8 are 70.66 meters long. The latest variant, 747-8 is 76.25 meters long which makes it the longest mass-production aircraft in the world.

Image originally created by Clem Tillier.

Modified by KN Aviation under the CC BY-SA 2.5 license

While the 747-8 is longer than the A380, at 79.75 meters, the A380 has a wider wingspan. For comparison, the wingspan of the classic variants of the 747 up to the “-300” is 59.6 meters, and the “-400” and “-8” have wingspans of 64.4 and 68.4 meters respectively.

Finally, the A380 is 24.09 meters high while all variants of the 747 are between 19.3 and 19.9 meters high.

To sum it up, while the 747, or at least its 747-8 variant, is longer than the A380, the A380 is higher higher and has a wider wingspan.

Weight: A380’s MTOW is 127 tons heavier than 747-8’s.

A380’s maximum take-off weight (MTOW) is 575 tons and its operating empty weight (OEW) – basically the aircraft’s weight without its payload (passengers and cargo) and usable fuel – is 277 tons.

All variants of the 747 are lighter than that. The 747SP has, at 320 tons and 153 tons respectively, the lightest MTOW and OEW of the family. On the other end of the spectrum lies the latest 747-8 which has a MTOW of 448 tons and an OEW of 220 tons.

Just for comparison, a Toyota Camry weighs around 1,600 kilograms. So, an A380 can be as heavy as almost 360 Toyota Camrys when it takes off, and a 747-8 as heavy as 280 of them.

The A380 is considerably heavier than any of the 747 variants.

Speed: 747s can fly faster than the A380s.

The maximum cruise speed of an A380 is Mach 0.89 (89% of the speed of sound in air) while the two newest variants of the 747 (“-400” and “-8”) can cruise at a speed of Mach 0. 855.

While in normal circumstances, the aircraft wouldn’t operate at speeds faster than the above, let’s also take a look at their MMo – maximum operating limit speed. For the A380 it’s Mach 0.89 and for the 747-8 it’s Mach 0.9. The older 747 variants have an even faster MMo of Mach 0.92.

The aircraft might fly even faster than that during test flights (or rarely in emergency situations), though

The 747 has a faster maximum operating limit speed than the A380.

Capacity: A380s can carry more passengers than the 747s.

The actual capacity varies from airline to airline depending on the number of classes, types of seats used, seat pitch, and so on. However, for the purpose of comparing the two jumbo jets, let’s take a look at the maximum number of passengers (the exit limit) the two types are rated for.

While a 747-8 could theoretically transport a maximum of 605 passengers, the A380-800 would be able to transport 868 passengers – 40% more than the Queen of the Skies.

Rarely do airlines install seats hitting the exit limit, though