2005 A380 Concept

The year of our lord 2006 was the last in which Himmelbahn had pending orders for the Airbus A380. The airline had ordered the aircraft as part of the slew of orders for the type which had been placed in 2001. At the time, it was believed that the type would eventually replace the 747-400 as the flagship. It was only natural for the flagship of Germany's flagship carrier to be built partially in Germany. In the swell of pre-9/11 optimism about the industry, the order was logical. However, with every year that followed the order seemed less and less logical. By 2005, Himmelbahn press releases about the type were few and far between. 2005 marked the last time an A380 was rendered in Himmelbahn colours. The press release discussed the specs of the aircraft and then revealed the appearance of the A380 in the airline's new Candybird livery. The next and last time the A380 was featured in a Himmelbahn press release was in 2006 when it was announced that the order was no longer economically viable. It was cancelled the next day and what aircraft spotters had anticipated referring to as the Candywhale was never to be.