Toulouse, France: Today Airbus launched the world’s biggest passenger plane into the skies from Toulouse Blagnac airport amid great fanfare and live worldwide TV coverage of the maiden test flight.
At precisely 10.29 a.m. the Airbus A380 left the ground and climbed steadily in the clear skies. Thousands of people, which included aviation enthusiasts, watched from cordoned off areas and cheered as the plane weighing 421 tons took off. Thousands more watched from the city center, where a giant television screen in the main square showed the plane’s ascent live. 500 police officers were pressed into service to control the crowds. It was after all the ‘biggest’ event in the history of aviation, since the first flight of the supersonic Concorde in 1969.
The new Airbus is a double-decker with a capacity to carry 555 passengers. It is partly British-produced; one-third of its investment has come from European governments. Its maximum take-off weight can be 560 tons, but for today’s maiden flight it weighed 421 tons.
The aircraft took about 11 years and US$15.68 billion (euro 12 billion) to reach the commercial skies. With its maiden flight it ends the 4-decade long reign of Boeing’s 747 as the world’s biggest aircraft to have flown.
To give you an idea how big the airA380 is: imagine eight London buses, end-to-end, better still, imagine a 747 with its upper deck stretching all the way to its tail. But it’s a lot different from the jumbo. It is 49 feet wider, 13 feet taller and 118 tons heavier. Its 260ft wingspan (wings designed and built in Wales) is big enough to park 70 cars.
The six-strong crew were led by Airbus's flight division senior vice president Captain Claude Lelaie and chief test pilot Captain Jacques Rosay.
The huge aircraft is expected to bring down per passenger cost up to one-fifth below its rival’s. Airbus will have to sell 250 of the A380s to be able to break even.
In the meanwhile, a few of the world hub airports are busy gearing up for future traffic from this new breed of large aircraft. Heathrow airport is spending £450 million in modifying their terminal airfield; they will be able to take the A380 by summer 2006. A spokesman for Airbus expressed optimism saying “By 2016, one in eight planes will be A380s.”
In the next 20 year, demand for large aircraft will go up; there could be as many as 1,500 such aircraft as air travel expands.
