Françair A380 | 2009-2018

Airline - Françair
Aircraft - Airbus A380-800 | F-BIGA
Delivered to Françair, 2009
Livery - Standard 2009
Country - France

Françair took delivery of its first A380-800 - F-BIGA - in 2009, as a launch customer of the type. The aircraft was inaugurated on the Paris to Berlin route, flying crew training flights between the two cities, before operating its first 'real' flight (to New York) a few weeks later. With eleven A380s initially delivered between 2009 and 2012, and an additional four added between 2017 and 2018 brining the fleet up to fifteen, Françair sits right in the middle of the range of airlines that operate it in terms of A380 fleet size.

An extensive interior refit carried out between 2017 and 2018 on the eleven original aircraft (the four newest ones were delivered at that time already with the interior installed) provided a much-needed update. As you can see below, Françair's A380s feature twelve First Class seats on the bottom deck, with 52 Premium Economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration right behind First. On the upper deck, there are 76 reverse-herringbone Business Class seats (specifically, the Zodiac Cirrus III). Finally, the rear of the top deck and most of the lower deck contains 381 Economy Class seats, in a 3-4-3 configuration on the lower deck and 2-4-2 on the upper. On one side of the upper lobe, to port from the forward stairway, is a small First and Business Class lounge with two tables, an L-shaped couch, and a television. To starboard from the stairway are two large bathrooms accessibly both by First and Business Class passengers, which double as changing rooms. One of the bathrooms also has a shower, however this is only available to First Class passengers and must be activated by the crew before use. There are also self-service drink and snack bars on both the upper and lower decks situated next to the rear curved stairways, for use by Economy and Premium Economy passengers. Finally, there is a very small Economy lounge at the far back of the lower deck, also next to the stairway.


I decided it was finally time to tackle the A380, which I've been holding off on making liveries and seat maps for because it's such a momentous task. I'm actually very happy with how the seat map turned out, but I'm not sure about the livery. I think perhaps the French Flag-based pattern on the tail could be a starting point for something good, but it's definitely not finished. Basically, I'm posting this to publish the seat map (which is final) and get advice on the livery, and I'll make a v2 of the livery after hopefully getting input from anyone who wants to provide it.

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