TOULOUSE, France - Airbus showed off its giant A380, adouble-decked behemoth that could revolutionize long-haul flying, at a lavishceremony yesterday with European leaders gathered for the first official lookat the world's largest passenger plane.
Airbus is betting its newfound status as the world'sleading jet maker on the superjumbo that has a 262-foot wingspan, atail as tall as a seven-story building and which cost $13 billion to develop.
French President Jacques Chirac, as well as the leadersof Britain, Germany and Spain and CEOs from the 14 airlines and freighttransporters that have so far ordered the A380 attended the elaborate ceremonyat company headquarters in Toulouse, southern France.
Chirac called the A380 a veritable liner of theskies and said its debut is for all of us a moment of emotion andpride and a great success for Europe.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder struck a similar chord,calling the A380 a triumph of European science and Europeanengineering.
The show before almost 5,000 guests debuted with music,clouds of dry ice and dancers in the hangar where A380s are assembled, one ofthe largest enclosed spaces in Europe. Projected images of planes from theAirbus range sped across the hangar walls and dancers suspended on wiresappeared to walk on thin air.
Children tugged on white cords to pull down a curtain,unveiling the plane lit in blue behind.
The launch of the A380 seemed certain to become amilestone in civil aviation history alongside the 747 and Concorde. Unlike thesupersonic Concorde, however, whose claim to fame was how fast it crossed theAtlantic, this latest fruit of European aerospace cooperation will ultimatelybe judged on how fast it makes money.
Airbus has already taken 149 orders for the $280 millionplane, which for a plane of this size that has not yet flown is anextraordinary commercial performance
Airbus CEO Noel Forgeard said.
Airbus says companies have options on dozens more andthat the program will break even after 250 sales.
The company expects to sell 700-750 aircraft. It'sa plane that will fly for 30 to 40 years Forgeard said.
Airbus trailed Boeing Co. until 2003, when it deliveredmore planes than its U.S. rival for the first time.
Sustaining that lead will depend partly on the outcome ofAirbus' audacious bet on strong demand for the A380. Airbus plans the firsttest flight of the 308-ton plane sometime before March 31.
In a three-class cabin layout, the A380 will carry 555passengers. The A380 has 49 percent more floor space.
On a full tank, it will also carry passengers 5 percentfarther than Boeing's longest-range jumbo, Airbus claims, producing costs perpassenger that are up to one-fifth below its rival's.
How the plane's extra space is used will be left up toairlines, whose A380 cabin designs have remained closely guarded. In thefuture, low-cost carriers could operate the A380 with a single economy-classconfiguration accommodating as many as 800 passengers.
Virgin company chief Richard Branson said his airline,which has ordered six A380s, will offer private double beds for first-classpassengers and casinos.
The chairman of Dubai-based carrier Emirates, which is sofar the largest A380 customer with 45 orders, said the plane was a keyelement in our future growth and offers the widest cabin of anyaircraft in the world.
It provides lower seat-mile costs and carries morepassengers further and consumes less fuel than its competitors SheikhAhmed bin Saee Al Maktoum said.
Chew Choon Seng, CEO of Singapore Airlines, said the A380would increase passenger and cargo capacities without increasing aircraftmovements and without congesting the skies and adding to congestion on airporttaxiways and runways.
Singapore Airlines will begin using the plane forservices to London and Sydney when it becomes the first carrier to carrycommercial passengers aboard the A380 in mid-2006, he said.
Airbus hopes to sell 750 superjumbos to airlinesoperating services between the busiest airports, mainly in Asia, which serve ashubs, or stopovers between connecting flights.
Boeing sees demand for only 400 jets larger than its 747over the next two decades, as air passengers increasingly gravitate towarddirect flights aboard a new generation of smaller, long-range jets like itsplanned 7E7.
The superjumbo's entry into service next year is achallenge to already stretched airport infrastructure.
London's Heathrow airport says it is spending over $800 million,providing everything from double-decker passenger ramps to enlarged baggageconveyors capable of processing 555 passengers on one flight.
Other airports are spending billions more on similarimpr
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