New 555-passenger jet unveiled today in France
The Airbus A380 in this image includes a restaurant in the aircraft's first-class section. The new A380 is expected to carry its payload 5 percent farther than Boeing's longest-range jumbo. -- Computer-generated image / Airbus via Getty Images
By Laurence Frost and Laurent Lemel
Associated Press
January 18, 2005
PARIS -- Airbus, which has delivered more airplanes than Boeing for the second year in a row, is about to unveil another No. 1: the world's largest passenger jet.
The A380, a four-aisle, four- engine, double-decker "superjumbo," will roll onto the tarmac today at Airbus headquarters in southern France, in a lavish ceremony attended by EU leaders and thousands of guests.
Sales have beat expectations so far, and most of the technical problems that have dogged the program have been resolved, at a price.
But the real sighs of relief won't be heard in Toulouse until later -- sometime before March 31, Airbus says -- when the A380 hauls its 280-metric ton (308-ton) frame aloft.
That's when the plane's engineers will begin to find out whether their gargantuan offspring lives up to the performance promises, as the first test-flight data streams in.
Central Indiana residents may get their first look at the freight version of the giant plane.
FedEx Express said Monday it would take delivery of its first A380 in August 2008, and the plane will operate on routes that include the company's Indianapolis International Airport hub.
In a standard three-class cabin configuration, the A380 will carry 555 passengers -- one-third more than the plane it is designed to displace, the Boeing 747.
On a full tank, it also will carry them 5 percent farther than Boeing's longest-range jumbo, Airbus claims, producing costs per passenger that are up to one-fifth below its rival's.
Meeting these targets has been "no picnic," Airbus Chief Executive Noel Forgeard acknowledged last week, when he also confirmed that the A380 is both over budget and slightly overweight.
Forgeard said the plane will weigh in about 1 percent heavier than its target of 277 metric tons (305 tons) but stressed it still will deliver on promised fuel efficiency and other guarantees, since the internal benchmark was deliberately overambitious.
He said the program's $1.9 billion overspend -- 18 percent of its $10.7 billion overall budget at current exchange rates -- likely would be trimmed by a renewed cost-cutting drive.
At the giant hangar where Jean-Claude Schoepf, head of the A380 final assembly line, and his 1,500 engineers and support staff work, wings, nose cones and fuselage sections arrive by road convoys after being transported from Airbus facilities in Spain, Britain, Germany and elsewhere in France.
By 2008, Schoepf plans to hire another 1,000 staff to boost the production rate to one A380 per week.
Airbus has 139 firm A380 orders from 13 airlines and freight companies, worth $39 billion before any discounts on the plane's $280 million list price. A new 747 costs up to $211 million before discounts.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., which owns 80 percent of Airbus, says the A380 program will break even at about 250 sales.
Over the next 20 years, Airbus sees global demand for 1,250 A380-size behemoths to shuttle passengers between the world's largest airports, which serve as connecting hubs for flights to less busy destinations.
Superjumbo jet unveiled in France
Last Updated Tue, 18 Jan 2005 05:59:21 EST
CBC News
TOULOUSE, FRANCE - European leaders have gathered for the official unveiling of the world's largest passenger plane in France, a jetliner that some analysts say will transform international air travel.
The Airbus A380 double-decker plane, with a 262-foot wingspan, a tail as tall as a seven-storey building, cost $13 billion US to develop. It can fly more than 15,000 kilometres without refueling.
The jet seats at least 555 passengers, 33 per cent more than Boeing's 747 and offers 49 percent more floor space. But can carry as many as 840 people, depending on the seat configuration.
Featuring a three-class cabin layout, the "superjumbo" will have space for features such as on-board shops, bars, casinos or nurseries.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero – whose governments poured billions of dollars into the project – attended the unveiling at company headquarters in Toulouse, southern France.
The A-380 replaces the Boeing 747 jumbo as the world's biggest passenger plane. Joe D'Cruz, a business professor at the University of Toronto, says it will forever change air travel.
"Transformative, transformative, but it will only transform global travel. That means people travelling very very long distances," he said.
Airbus has taken 149 orders for the $280 million US planes. The company expects to sell 700 to 750 aircraft. So far, Air Canada has not ordered any of the planes.
Airlines will decide how the plane's extra space is used. Virgin company chief Richard Branson said his airline, which has ordered six A380s, will offer casinos and private double beds for first class passengers.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saee Al Maktoum, the chairman of Dubai-based carrier Emirates, which is so far the largest A380 customer with 45 orders, said the advantages of the aircraft is that it provides lower seat-mile costs, carries more passengers further and consumes less fuel than its competitors.
D'Cruz said the carrier may fly some jets into Toronto's Pearson international airport.
"There's a reason why Emirates might target Toronto because of all the security problems in the U.S. So Toronto could well become for Emirates a hub for people who want to travel from other parts of the world to Latin America," he said.
But Boeing predicted there will only be demand for 400 jets over the next two decades, saying passengers are being drawn to direct flights on smaller, long-range jets like the company's planned 7E7.
The introduction of the superjumbo also presents challenges for airports, which will have to upgrade its infrastructure to accommodate the plane.
For example, London's Heathrow airport says it is spending over $800 million US for double-decker passenger ramps to enlarged baggage conveyors capable of processing 555 passengers on one flight.
The A-380 still must be certified as air worthy. It could be flying passengers by next year.
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