Airbus A380
Airbus · Out of production (2021) — in service
Full specification →Wingspan and overall height are drawn to true scale from the sourced figures on each aircraft page. Compare any other aircraft in the live tool →
The numbers
Side by side
| Airbus A380 | Boeing 747 | Difference | Bigger | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length | 72.72 m | 76.25 m | 3.53 m | Boeing 747 +5% |
| Wingspan | 79.75 m | 68.40 m | 11.35 m | Airbus A380 +17% |
| Height | 24.09 m | 19.40 m | 4.69 m | Airbus A380 +24% |
| MTOW | 575 t | 448 t | 127 t | Airbus A380 +28% |
| Typical seats | 525 | 410 | 115 | Airbus A380 +28% |
| Range | 14,800 km | 14,320 km | 480 km | Airbus A380 +3% |
| Max speed | 945 km/h | 988 km/h | 43 km/h | Boeing 747 +5% |
The verdict
Which is actually bigger?
The 747 invented the widebody and ruled for thirty-eight years; the A380 was built to dethrone it and arrived exactly as the market it was designed for evaporated. The A380 wins every dimension that can be measured — longer wings, taller, heavier, hundreds more seats — and lost the argument anyway. Point-to-point flying dissolved the hub-and-spoke logic both aircraft were built on, and the twin-engine 777 and 787 finished the pair of them off.
The Boeing 747 is the longer of the two, at 76.25 m against 72.72 m — a difference of 3.53 m. Wingspan tells the opposite story: the Airbus A380 spreads 11.35 m wider, so which one is "bigger" depends entirely on which dimension you care about.
The largest passenger aircraft ever built. The original jumbo jet. The silhouettes above are drawn at true relative scale from the sourced figures on each aircraft's page — same metres, same pixels, no artistic licence.
On capacity, the Airbus A380 carries more people in a typical layout — 525 against 410.
Boeing 747
Boeing · Out of production (2023) — in service
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