Thoughts On The Airbus A 390
Ask Google what she knows about the Airbus A 390 and you get this AI Summary.
The Airbus A390 is a three-deck, six-engine aircraft that can carry around 1,000 passengers. It’s based on the A380, but with a third deck and extra engines. The A390 was custom-built for Qantas to fly between Melbourne and New York.
Google got their summary from this page on steemit.
Search for images of the Airbus A 390 and you get several images of this unusual three-deck aircraft, that looks like a widened Airbus A 380 with six engines.
These are some of my thoughts.
Wikipedia Entries
There is no Wikipedia entry for the Airbus A 390.
But.
- There is a Wikipedia entry for the Airbus A 380.
- There is also a Wikipedia entry for the six unusual Airbus Beluga XLs, which are used to transport two pairs of Airbus A 350 wings between factories.
The A 390 is supposedly based on the A 380 and the Beluga XL appears to have a fuselage that is a bit like the Airbus A 390.
Will The Airbus A 390 Fly?
After reading the two Wikipedia entries, I am fairly sure that an Airbus A 390 airliner, as shown in the pictures would be able to fly.
Although, I must say, that I was surprised, at seeing an Airbus Beluga XL on video. This is a Beluga XL landing at Heathrow.
So I think we can say, that Airbus know more than a bit about the aerodynamics of three-deck fuselages.
The Antonov An-225 Mriya
This aircraft designed and built in the Soviet Union , does have a Wikipedia entry.
These three paragraphs from the start of the entry, give some details of this unusual and very large aircraft.
The Antonov An-225 Mriya (Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, lit. ’dream’ or ‘inspiration’) was a strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed and produced by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Soviet Union.
It was originally developed during the 1980s as an enlarged derivative of the Antonov An-124 airlifter for transporting Buran spacecraft. On 21 December 1988, the An-225 performed its maiden flight; only one aircraft was ever completed, although a second airframe with a slightly different configuration was partially built. After a brief period of use in the Soviet space programme, the aircraft was mothballed during the early 1990s. Towards the turn of the century, it was decided to refurbish the An-225 and reintroduce it for commercial operations, carrying oversized payloads for the operator Antonov Airlines. Multiple announcements were made regarding the potential completion of the second airframe, though its construction largely remained on hold due to a lack of funding. By 2009, it had reportedly been brought up to 60–70% completion.
With a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes (705 short tons), the An-225 held several records, including heaviest aircraft ever built and largest wingspan of any operational aircraft. It was commonly used to transport objects once thought impossible to move by air, such as 130-ton generators, wind turbine blades, and diesel locomotives.
This further paragraph described the destruction of the aircraft.
The only completed An-225 was destroyed in the Battle of Antonov Airport in 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced plans to complete the second An-225 to replace the destroyed aircraft.
I feel that the Mriya is significant for the Airbus A 390 for three reasons.
- Mriya was a six-engine heavy-lift cargo aircraft developed from a certified four-engine transport.
- Mriya was starting to make a name for being able to move over-sized cargo around the world.
- Given the parlous state of parts of the world and the ambitions of some of its so-called leaders, I believe, as I suspect others do, that a heavy-lift cargo aircraft is needed for disaster relief.
So are Airbus looking at the possibilities of converting some unwanted A 380 airliners into the heavy-lift aircraft, that they believe the world needs?
- They may even want some for their own purposes.
- Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk may need a heavy-lift aircraft for their space programs.
Converting some unwanted Airbus A 380s into heavy-lift cargo aircraft could be a more affordable route, than designing and building new aircraft from scratch.
The Anonymous Widower 
A380 has oversize wings, so that it could be stretched later, so scope for enlargement.
OTOH three decks and six engines would be a major redesign, and probably never got further than the drawing board.
Comment by R. Mark Clayton | February 19, 2025 |
I think two developments have spurred the thinking.
Rolls-Royce have run the Ultrafan and now know a lot about the performance of this great leap forward.
Rolls-Royce now have the experience of running eight engines together for a B 52 and I suspect they now know how to control six.
The fuel situation is probably sorting itself out too and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a very large six-engined freighter turn up for one of the parcel carriers. As many parcels are very full of air, it might even use the weight saved to run on hydrogen.
The Ultrafan, which is supposedly very frugal could be ideal for hydrogen. I believe Stansted or Doncaster would be ideal hydrogen airports, as they are close to large amounts of gigawatts. So an A 390 freighter could take parcels between Europe and China, Australia or West Coast of America. It would be competing with container ships. Faster rail routes are already opening up going South of Putinstan!
Large freighter aircraft for long distance have been planned before. Buckminster Fuller even designed one in the Second World War to invade Europe from the UK.
Comment by AnonW | February 20, 2025 |
This story has been floating around for over 7 years. I always felt it was a fake as Airbus cut their losses and production of the A380 as twin jet aircraft were more economical to run.
Comment by thelordbruton | February 20, 2025 |
The Ultrafan will revolutionise the big twins and they will prosper, but running on sustainable aviation fuel based on Lord know’s what.
I see a freighter version of the A 390 coming first doing very long routes, possibly even on hydrogen.
Where it might see service of a passenger version would be on very busy routes, where a 1000-seater plane would be viable. It would fly from dedicated airports or terminals, as the handling of thousands of passengers at a time presents its own problems. You may even have to turn up at the airport by train or bus.
Comment by AnonW | February 20, 2025 |
The A380’s wings are much larger than needed, likely intended for a stretched version [tat never materialised]. With new and more eficient and powerful engines and perhaps some wing tweaks the capacity of the plane could be increased, but three decks or six engines would almost certainly be a major redesign and vastly inflate the cost of producing any into what would be a very limited market.
Comment by Mark Clayton | February 20, 2025 |
I actually think airships could be a better way forward for air freight. Easily scalable. Basically point to point, they could carry their hydrogen fuel with them in inner bags – burning it as they went along and shedding water ballast to compensate for the loss of lift. During the day they could have solar cells on top to further boost energy efficiency either by electrolysing the ballast or directly for propulsion.
PS just not in the USA – the rednecks take pot shots!
Comment by Mark Clayton | February 20, 2025 |
That’s why I feel that a small number of freight A 390’s may kick it off. Air freight has a habit of bulking out, if you’re shipping things in oversize cardboard boxes. I recently bought a stool, that came with 90 % of the box air!
It could also be that Airbus need some more and bigger Baluga XXLs, as other companies want to move large structures around. Perhaps, they’re thinking of converting some of the surplus A 380s. Remember the Russian very large freighter was actually Ukrainian and was destroyed by Putin soldiers, probably out of spite. So there’s some sort of gap there in moving large loads and humanitarian relief, of which there seems to be a lot these days.
Certainly with Putin, Trump and Xi around, a really big disaster is much more likely.
Airbus have also pushed back the in service date of the A 350F freighter.
I also found this video which is worth a look.
Could an A 390 Freighter trump everything and be very useful for moving large rocket parts around for Space X etc. and also wind turbine components?
Comment by AnonW | February 20, 2025 |
Airships have been tried for years and none have been successful. They’d also need specialist airship ports, whereas as the Beluga shows, virtually any big airport runway will do.
If they go hydrogen powered, that could be a problem, unless you’re near a big supply like Doncaster (Finningley), Stansted and Prestwick are or could be.
Comment by AnonW | February 20, 2025
Airships for passenger use stumble over the requirement for [expensive] helium to inflate them. For freight there could be a hydrogen bag inside a helium bag. The example of turbine blades is apposite. They are difficult to deliver and very difficult to erect and usually sited in remote areas. An airship could do both.
Comment by Mark Clayton | February 20, 2025
Apparently airships will be able to tranpsort turbne blades: –
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2018999/worlds-largest-plane-airlander-uk
Comment by Mark Clayton | February 26, 2025