Airbus 380, world’s largest passenger jet, flies with max passenger load
The Airbus 380 made it’s first flight fully loaded yesterday, carrying 474 employees aloft on a 7 hour round trip flight. The aircraft’s launch customer, Singapore Airlines, is expecting the first of the new ships to be delivered by the end of this calendar year.
The A380 is a huge plane with 2 passenger decks that run the entire length of the plane, rather than a partial upper deck like the Boeing 747. Airbus is betting on increased demand on long-haul, international routes to keep the orders coming. Boeing, which had been in a competition with Airbus to launch the first “superjumbo” has since bowed out, preferring to concentrate on short- to medium-haul ships like their latest, the 787 Dreamliner. At this point, time will tell which approach is the most lucrative.
