Airbus just drew a heart in the sky with the last Airbus A380 ever to be built as the superjumbo jet era comes to a ceremonious end

• Airbus is about to deliver the final Airbus A380 passenger jet to Emirates in December.
• Pilots flying the last test flight before delivery drew a heart in the sky at 35,000 feet. 
• The A380 has been a status symbol for airlines but was made obsolete by newer aircraft and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Airbus has reached the end of the runway with the Airbus A380. 

The final A380 has been built at Airbus’ production facility in Toulouse, France, and just flew its final test flight before Emirates takes delivery of the aircraft.

Emirates is expected to take delivery of the last A380 in December to join its fleet of 115 A380s and counting.

But before handing the keys over for the last time, Airbus paid tribute to its largest passenger jet that’s been a fixture for more than two decades. 

MSN272 departed Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport for a routine test flight on Sunday that lasted nearly five hours, according to Flightradar 24 data. Airbus flight test pilots brought the aircraft up to a top altitude of 43,000 feet as it flew in near-racetrack patterns over Germany and northwestern Poland.

One of the final maneuvers performed by pilots was drawing a heart shape in the sky at 30,000 feet. 

—Airbus (@Airbus) December 13, 2021

“Nothing but love for the A380, as the final superjumbo to join our fleet takes to the skies for one last test flight,” Emirates tweeted of the occasion. 

The end of the superjumbo era

The A380 has been flying since 2005 when Airbus finally overtook Boeing and its 747 in having built the world’s largest passenger jet.

For many airlines, the A380 has been a status symbol to show off on their most high-profile routes, and most didn’t order more than 20 models for their fleets. Emirates has been the only airline to make the A380 the backbone of its fleet, using it for flights from Dubai as far as Los Angeles and as close as Muscat, Oman. 

But the past few years have solidified the aircraft as obsolete, too large, and too expensive in the age of efficient twin-engine aircraft like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 XWB. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce previously said that the airline could fly two Dreamliners for less than the price of one Airbus A380 on the same route.

While the A380 is one of Airbus’ lowest selling aircraft with only 251 orders in more than 20 years of development and production, it’s been a favorite of customers thanks to its abundance of space and the extra features that airlines have been able to offer. 

Etihad Airways opted to use the A380 as the sole platform for “The Residence,” or the luxury airborne apartments for which travelers could pay upwards of $20,000. And on Emirates, two of the first class lavatories have been converted into “shower spas” where travelers can take a hot shower mid-flight complete with luxury Bulgari products. 

Etihad has not yet decided whether to keep or part with its Airbus A380s, which currently sit in storage around the globe. Tony Douglas, Etihad’s chief executive officer, told Insider at the Dubai Airshow in November that the A380s are not “in the plan at the moment” but “If the economics of it work, they’re back in.”

The journey to build the final A380 has spanned the length of the COVID-19 pandemic, the same pandemic that’s spurred airlines like Air France and Lufthansa to abandon the aircraft. Airbus trucked the final A380’s fuselage through France in June 2020 after its parts arrived from France, Germany, Spain, and the UK.

But even as the A380’s route map continues to shrink amid retirements and no new aircraft in production, loyal airlines will keep the world’s largest passenger jet flying for decades to come.