Airbus begins A380 production

Friday May 7, 2004

Amid pomp and ceremony, plane-making company Airbus today inaugurated
the huge facility in which it will assemble the worlds largest passenger
aircraft, the 555-seat A380 superjumbo.

This particular aircraft will not fly and will be used for on-the-ground
tests. Assembly of the first plane that will go into service will begin
on May 27th.

Todays ceremony, conducted before 3,000 guests, including French prime
minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, took place in a £240m new facility which
is nearly 500m long.

The French prime minister described the A380, which has a range of more
than 9,000 miles, as the, greatest aircraft in the world.

Speaking at the launch, the company's chief executive, Noel Forgeard,
announced that Airbus was in talks with a US airline about possible
orders for the A380. Mr Forgeard said he was also confident that at
least one Japanese airline would operate the aircraft. Airbus was in
talks with four other Asian carriers on the plane, including one in
China, he added.

Airbus has already received 129 firm orders for the A380 from 11
airlines including Virgin Atlantic, Air France, Lufthansa and Qantas,
but as yet no US passenger carrier has placed an order for the superjumbo.

Airbus, which delivered more planes than Boeing last year for the
first time, insists there is a market of 1,163 for the A380. Over
the next few years, Airbus will produce an ever-increasing number
of the aircraft, with production rising to four planes a month by
2008. The first A380 flight is scheduled for early next year and it
will go into passenger service in 2006.

Mr Forgeard said the A380 programme, costing £6.5bn, needed 250
orders at £156m each to break even, a target he believes could be
met by 2008 with delivery by 2012.

Amid pomp and ceremony, plane-making company Airbus today inaugurated
the huge facility in which it will assemble the worlds largest passenger
aircraft, the 555-seat A380 superjumbo.

As one who well remembers when the 747 went from the top of air
transportation to the bottom rung of cram-everyone-in -- which
happened in a very brief period of time -- I hope I never have to
fly on the 380.

Looking forward to riding on one of these things. Should be really
interesting.

--
"I'll find Fry's coffin, get his corpse and keep it under my mattress to
remind me that he's really dead. That'll prove I'm not insane!"

Goliath & Wildwing's Storage Room
http://anatidae.homestead.com/