Posted on 01/18/2005 7:45:22 AM PST by Happy2BMe
Airbus unveiled the world's biggest passenger jet in a glitzy ceremony in which the leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Spain hailed Europe's victory over the United States as the new king of the commercial skies.
The huge A380 superjumbo, which can carry up to 840 people on its two full decks, supersedes the ageing 747 by US rival Boeing as the biggest civilian aircraft ever made.
When it is put into service early next year, it will become the flagship of many airline fleets and offer unprecedented amenities on long-haul services, including, in some cases, gyms, bedrooms and bars.
For the countries which backed the 10.7-billion-euro (14-billion-dollar) development cost, the plane stood as a prominent symbol of European cooperation.
"Good old Europe has made this possible," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a packed hall in Airbus's headquarters in Toulouse, southwest France.
That was a barely-veiled barb recalling the US dismissal of France, Germany and other EU states in 2003 as "Old Europe" because of their opposition to the war on Iraq.
Noel Forgeard, the French head of Airbus, made similar hints in his presentation of the A380 during a spectacle featuring computer graphics, atmospheric theme music and swirling colours.
"The European states -- so easily accused of weakness -- backed this fantastic challenge 35 years ago and have believed in the A380," he said.
The hubris on display was reinforced by recent figures showing that, for the second year running, Airbus has outsold Boeing and now holds some 57 percent of the world market for passenger aircraft.
The company, a majority owned subsidiary of the listed European Aerospace and Defence Company (with 20 percent in the hands of Britain's BAE Systems), forecasts that the A380 will extend that lead.
Thirteen airlines have already placed firm orders for 139 of the planes. Airbus calculates that by 2008 it will reach the break-even point of 250 A380s sold, and from that point it will turn out 35 of the aircraft per year to rising profits.
The catalogue price of the huge machine -- boasting a wingspan of 80 metres (262 feet), overall length of 73 metres (239 feet), height of 24 metres (79 feet) and maximum take-off weight of 560 tonnes -- is between 263 and 286 million dollars, though discounts are frequently applied.
French President Jacques Chirac called the project a "big success" and said: "We can, and we must, go further on this path of European construction so essential for growth and employment."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the plane was "the culmination of many years of hard work" and congratulated the workers across Europe who made it happen.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Europe was "unstoppable" when it pooled its efforts.
The plane, Zapatero said, "has turned this historic moment into a moment in which cooperation and globalisation are giving rise to more peace and justice."
The four EU leaders later lunched together, leaving industry VIPS to get close to the huge white plane sitting in its hangar.
Airline executives at the presentation were superlative in their praise, even though the A380 has yet to undergo test flights scheduled for March or April.
Richard Branson, the head of Britain's Virgin Atlantic, said his airline would pamper passengers on the six A380s ordered by including gyms, beauty parlours, bars -- and even casinos and double beds.
The last two features meant "you'll have at least two ways to get lucky on our flights," Branson joked.
The biggest buyer of the new plane is the Emirates airline, which has ordered 43. "The A380 will be the future of air travel," its chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, said.
Airbus's success with the A380 is raising hackles at Boeing, which has won relatively little interest in its own new offering, a long-range mid-size plane called the 7E7 Dreamliner.
A bruising dispute over state subsidies between Boeing and Airbus is currently the subject of tense negotiations which, if they fail at the end of a three-month deadline, will blow up into a full-blown arbitration case at the World Trade Organisation.
Blended wing looks great for cargo but where are the window seats??
the A380 looks like a big cattle car.
I'd have to fly in it, being in one of the middle-middle seats.
"European leaders hail lead over US"
And the first time one of these things crashes and kill over 800 people at once, they will be moaning that they built it because the U.S. had fostered 'unfair' competition in the market place.
In other words. "IT'S NOT OUR FAULT. IT'S THE U.S.'s"
Lead America? They built a plane that has never flown and does not fly.
How does this lead anyone? Why do European politicans always bloviate.
Can someone tell me where the whacked-out environmentalist movement stands on the production of the fuel guzzling, CO2 producing, elephant in the living room, piece of crap?
Meant to say:
"I'd hate to fly in it, being in one of the middle-middle seats. "
PS. My best flying experience was business class Singapore Airlines across the Pacific, in the 'bubble top' 747. Aaaah.
I can remember when the 747 rolled out with the same type of fanfare and they showed pictures of the cocktail lounge on the upper deck, and the other amenities the large plain left room for. But the truth is the airlines will in time replace all the wasted floor space and cram in more seats. They have to, to make it profitable to fly. I predict, the pictures of the A380 lounge will become as nostalgic as photos of dapper men and ladies in cocktail dresses being served martinis in an upper deck 747 lounge.
The A380 will from the inside look like a flying movie theater. Wall to wall seats.
One more thing. The 747 was able to land on all international airports, after a redesign of the landing gear to better displace the weight. The A380 however cannot land on but a handful of airports until the runways are made stronger, and that loading ramps are built to accommodate it.
I expect they hate it- but to be fair, it's relatively fuel efficient for it's size- according to the Times today "It burns 12 per cent less fuel than the jumbo jet and it will be the first long-haul aircraft to consume less than three litres of fuel per passenger over 100km - a rate comparable to an economical family car."
Not many window seats. It would have stadium-type seating in a sort of wedge formation with several aisles running through it.
Ed,
Are you in Maine? Anyway, that maybe during flight but did it state what the consumption of fuel would be to get to cruising altitude?
LOL, I wonder if they are all members of the "Mile High Club?"
#63
Why does this remind me of the Concorde and Japan's 20 year effort to produce analog HDTV?
I have to admit that I love the idea of a spacious plane for transatlantic flights though.
Hey, the airplanes are just another buggy whip industry. We will move into better new technologies.
"Let London manufacture those fine fabrics of hers to her heart's content; let Holland her chambrays; Florence her cloth; the Indies their beaver and vicuna; Milan her brocade, Italy and Flanders their linens...so long as our capital can enjoy them; the only thing it proves is that all nations train their journeymen for Madrid, and that Madrid is the queen of Parliaments, for all the world serves her and she serves nobody."
(Prominent Spanish official - Alfonso Nunez de Castro in 1675)
"Everything built in Europe is not inferior."
****
True. For example:
http://www.hollandandholland.com/gunrooms/guns/royaldblrifle.htm
I´ve heard that the airports are working at their terminals to make boarding through the 5 doors (!) as fast as possible.
Nope, the UK- they make the wings for this thing down the road from me actually.
Have no idea what the fuel consumption would be like on takeoff- and yeah, that would be the most environmentally unfriendly time. The point I was making was that while environmentalists will probably hate the thing, it's rather ironic as 1 of these would probably emit less co2 etc then 2 jumbos.
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