When we think of the A380, we think of it as the very first full-length double-deck aircraft. However, Airbus was not the first to come out with this concept. While the idea of a double-deck aircraft started from the era of flying boats like the Pan Am Clippers, the concept of a full-length double-deck started in the 1940s.
A full-length double-deck aircraft is a type of fixed-wing aircraft which has two passenger decks that both stretch almost throughout the full length of the aircraft fuselage. An example is the Airbus A380. The other type is a partial double-deck like the Boeing 747, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, and flying boats like the Boeing 314 Clipper. A partial double-deck may have either an upper or lower deck that only stretches about half or a fourth of the aircraft.
Before the A380, there was the Breguet Br.763 Deux Ponts, the 1940s to 1950s full double-deck aircraft built by the French company Breguet Aviation.
The Deux Ponts can carry up to 107 passengers with a crew of 3. While it was mostly used for the military, it was operated by one airline, United Kingdom’s Silver City.
The Boeing 747 was originally envisioned to be a full-length double-deck aircraft
When Boeing first conceptualized the 747, they wanted to create an aircraft that would serve both as passenger and freighter aircraft so if the sales of the passenger version decline, they still have a freighter version. It also needed to support containerized freight hence, the cockpit has to be mounted high and the nose can open for front-loading, similar to the C-5 Galaxy.
It should also be bigger than the Boeing 707 and other passenger airplanes during that time to address airport congestion issues during that time. This then gave birth to the first concept of the 747 which was a full-length double-deck aircraft. This also had eight-across seating and two aisles on the lower deck and seven-across seating and two aisles on the upper deck.
This concept did not push through due to concern over evacuation routes and limited cargo-carrying capability. Instead, the concept of a single deck with a shortened upper deck cam about so they can still open the nose-cone of the aircraft for cargo loading. This would also permit more passenger-carrying capability to address airport congestion. This design made the Boeing 747 the longest-selling and most popular aircraft in the world.
The latest version of the 747 is the 747-8, both available in freighter and passenger versions. Up to now, the aircraft is still in production, with the freighter version of this present model outselling the passenger version.
McDonnell Douglas MD-12 full double-deck aircraft
Before their was the Airbus A3XX concept which is now the A380, McDonnell Douglas came in with the MD-12 concept.
McDonnell Douglas wanted to build an aircraft bigger than their tri-jet MD-11 but with greater capacity. They wanted to make something with even greater carrying capacity than the Boeing 747, hence, a full double-deck design was conceived. However, the plan was scrapped as it did not receive any orders.
