Super-jumbo takes to skies

Super-jumbo takes to skies
Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:19 AM ET

By Louise Knowles

TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - The world's biggest airliner, the Airbus double-decker A380, soared effortlessly into the sky on Wednesday on one of the most eagerly awaited maiden flights since the supersonic Concorde took off in 1969.

The A380, which is designed to carry 555 passengers but has room for more than 800, lumbered down the runway before gathering speed and taking off from Airbus headquarters near Toulouse in southern France.

Thousands of enthusiasts cheered outside the perimeter fence as the plane, carrying just a six-man test crew, pulled away over open countryside towards the Atlantic Ocean.

Some spectators had camped out for days to see it take off on its first flight, expected to last from two to four hours.

The A380 is a key weapon in the battle by Airbus, in which European aerospace group EADS has an 80 percent stake, to keep its edge over U.S. plane maker Boeing, which is banking on customers wanting to buy smaller long-range airliners.

It has taken more than a decade and some 12 billion euros (8 billion pounds) to develop the A380. It has been subsidised by European governments and has yet to prove it can make a profit.

The A380 ended the four-decade reign of Boeing's 747 jumbo as the biggest airliner to have flown. It looks like a 747 with the upper deck stretched all the way back to the tail.

French President Jacques Chirac has hailed the project as "an immense European success" and described the new plane as a "cruise ship of the skies".

The new aircraft is 15 metres (49 feet) wider, 4 metres (13 feet) taller, 2 metres (6.5 feet) longer and 118 tonnes (260,000 pounds) heavier than the 747 jumbo, which helped change the airline business.

The length of eight London buses, the A380 has enough room on its wings to park 70 cars.

BATTLE WITH BOEING

Airbus plans to complete flight tests in just over a year, allowing Singapore Airlines to begin service in 2006. The first freighter version is scheduled for delivery in 2008.

Airbus has a combined 154 orders and commitments from 15 customers. The plane has a list price of $285 million.

Airbus has already celebrated by throwing a gala unveiling in January attended by heads of state and thousands of guests, but more orders will be needed to make the plane profitable.

The development cost to shareholders EADS and British defence firm BAE Systems (BA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , which has a 20 percent stake in Airbus, includes 1.45 billion euros of cost overruns linked in part to efforts to keep the A380's weight down.

Boeing has vowed to end the dominance of Airbus, which has outsold the Chicago-based plane maker in every year since 2001, and the two rivals are locked in a struggle in which each accuses the other of having unfair subsidies.

Boeing has been focusing on a much smaller money-saver in the 787 Dreamliner which is due in 2008, and has won two big deals in the past few days.

Air India (AIN.UL: Quote, Profile, Research) approved the purchase of up to 50 long-range Boeing aircraft -- including 27 of the new 787 long-range jets -- at a cost of about 300 billion rupees on Tuesday in a deal that is subject to Indian government approval.

That followed a $6 billion order for 32 wide-bodied Boeing jets from Air Canada on Monday.