The latest jetliner to claim the title of world's biggest passenger aircraft completed its inaugural flight to the United States, flying on football field-length wings and a prayer that airlines will want to buy the behemoth double-decker jet.

 

The four-engine Airbus A380 descended from a sunny sky and touched down at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York at about 12:10 PM on Monday, to the cheers of onlookers. As the plane made its way toward the terminal, a pilot waved an American flag. Minutes later, another A380 arrived in Los Angeles, with only a crew aboard.

 

The first US flights are a chance for plane builder Airbus and German airline Lufthansa AG to show off the jewel of Airbus' offerings to potential American buyers and to the airports they hope to turn into flight bases for the jet.

 

The 72.8-meter-long jet can seat 555 passengers in a typical three-class configuration or 853 passengers in a one-class economy setup. It can hold 309,978 liters of fuel, cruise at 901 kilometers per hour and fly about 14,720 kilometers.

 

Despite the plane's impressive statistics, Airbus has yet to sell any of the planes to US carriers. The A380 comes with a price tag of about US$300 million, although that figure varies depending on the airline's order, said John Leahy, chief of operations for Airbus.

 

Leahy called the A380 the flagship jetliner for the 21st century, much like the Boeing 747 was in the last century. Airbus has about 160 global orders from 15 airlines for the new plane, which has already made tests flights in Europe and to Asia.

 

Waiting in the wings, however, is Boeing Co, which now has competitors to the A380 in early production.

 

The US flight marked one of the highest-profile maiden trans-Atlantic voyages since 1969, when the Concorde, the world's first and only commercial supersonic transport, arrived at JFK from London. The European-made Concorde was retired from British and French service in 2005.

 

Airbus has been beset by management and financial problems, including a two-year delay to the A380 that wiped out more than US$6.61 billion in forecast profits. The flight is a chance to prove that the plane will be ready when the first deliveries are made in October.

 

Airbus is seeking to recoup its losses by cutting 10,000 jobs and spinning off or closing six of its European manufacturing plants. Louis Gallois, co-chief executive of parent company European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co, said Airbus has endured "the worst year" in its history.

 

The air show began early on Monday at Frankfurt International Airport when the plane took off as Lufthansa Flight 8940 for the eight-hour trip to Kennedy. Onboard were nearly 500 people, including pilots, Airbus crew members, 23 Lufthansa cabin crew and several hundred passengers, mostly Airbus and Lufthansa employees along with some journalists.

 

The flight operated as if it were a commercial one with full dining and entertainment services.

 

A separate inaugural Los Angeles flight originated in Toulouse, France. With only 23 people aboard, an Airbus crew flew the A380 to Los Angeles for airport "compatibility" tests.

 

(Shanghai Daily March 22, 2007)