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The European Aviation and Safety Agency (EASA) and the American Federal Aviation Administration, FAA gave their "seal of approval" to the
successful A380 evacuation trial performed at Airbus' site in Hamburg, Germany, on Sunday, 26th March, during which 853 passengers and 20 crew
members left the aircraft within 78 seconds. They trial validated 853 as the maximum passenger seating capacity, for the A380-800.
As per regulation, the evacuation test was performed in complete darkness through only half of the 16 exits of the A380. The exits that had been
selected by the authorities to be operative were not known to any of the passengers and crew before the test.
The aircraft was fitted with the
highest possible density cabin layout. In addition there were two flight crew members and 18 cabin crews from Lufthansa on board to manage the
evacuation in a representative way.
The A380 is designed to carry an average of 555 passengers in a three class layout over distances up to 8,000 nm/15,000 km. To-date, 159 A380s
have been ordered by 16 customers, with the first due to be delivered to first operator Singapore Airlines before the end of the year.
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