Posted on 01/18/2005 7:23:13 AM PST by highimpact
Tuesday January 18, 10:44 PM Airbus unveils its superjumbo, European leaders hail lead over US
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.
are you sure that they are priced in dollars alone? I think they are priced both in dollars and euros
Note: ANGLO-French Concord
Actually they only need to be 58 percent full to break even, while 747s have to fill 70 percent.
VERY bad idea. They will regret this decision.
"The next next guy (hands in lap) looks like a propped up store mannequin."
Heh, that's Tony Blair, but when we say that you accuse us of Anti Americanism! ;)
True they do but at what percentage is that of domestic airlines?
I would be interested to know as well, since I really have no idea
Remember the Titanic?
Well, von Hayek and von Mises were European economists. Respect could be given to them without embarrassment. As far as engineering goes - quite a lot of the stuff there gets over-engineered, to the detriment of the user. For an example, iDrive(?) BMW package jumps to mind.
Now stop sucking up for the Europeans and this meaningless achievement.
You nailed it.
Maybe this will make some money for them -- unlike the Concorde. After all costs are factored in, though, it's prolly a loser, financially.
And how much this will cost Richard? A $ 10,000 plane ticket.
That sounds like an invitation for the U.S. Gevernment to subsidize American aviation companies.
the concorde was a wonderful plane, and perfectly matched the needs of the socialist elites of europe.
make money? why is this important when the proles of europe will subsidize the black hole?
the 380 is more like the concorde than you might think. check out the first class accomadations for example: basically, a huge floor space with isolated plush lazy-boy recliners, sofas and desks for belgian bureaucrats to fly in luxury when they travel to thailand for their sex tourism at the orphanages opened up for tsunami victims...
i have no doubt this will be a popular plane on SOME routes, where the fare load factor is high, or if the plane is used for pure UPS type cargo.
i do however think that the airline industry is going through a phase somewhat like the cinema business. when was the last time you went to a *REALLY* big theater? there are very few left. the mini-theatres have taken over since they can offer more choice and tend to have a economically viable attending public...
i live in south america and typically fly back to the states in a 767, which is not particularly jumbo...
There currently are no countermeasures that work against the newest manpads. The kill zone for such devices is 40 miles inbound and outbound from any airport. They take seconds to assemble if necessary and seconds to point, shoot and scoot.
The A380 is a big pig of a target for the Islamo-Narco-Nazis.
By this logic then should we abandon 747 flights as well? That's a big plane as well, I'm sure something so sophistocated could down one with very little trouble. After all, by restricting air travel to smaller planes like the 767 we could cut the upper limit on terrorist plane attacks (and crashes for that matter) to the low hundreds rather then the 400+ area that a destroyed 747 would kill.
This seems a coward's way out to me. If terrorists threaten to blow up planes, don't stop travelling, take out the terrorists.
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