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Airbus Unveils Superjumbo Jet A380
The European aeronautic consortium Airbus formally launched the largest civil aircraft in history on Tuesday, the Airbus A380.
Airbus said in a communique that Airbus shareholders, French- German-Spanish European Aeronautics and Defense Space and the British Aerospace, decided to launch the aircraft during a meeting of the Council of Surveillance held in Toulouse, southwest of France.
"This is a decisive moment for Airbus as a comprehensive actor in the international scene," Manfred Bischoff, the German entrepreneur who serves as chairman of the Airbus supervisory Board, told Agence France-Presse.
The first series of A380, A380-1, will be able to carry 550 passengers, far more than the Boeing 747's, which can hold up to 400 people.
The maiden flight of A380 will take place in 2004, and, in 2006, the first deliveries will be made to several air companies that have ordered a total of 50 such aircraft.
The United States has protested the joint funding of A380 by the European shareholders, whose majority are government shareholders.
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