Kenny Santana, Contributor, Toulouse, France
After 18 months of delays, Airbus finally delivered its much-awaited A380 on Oct. 15, in a glittering ceremony at the Airbus Delivery Center in Toulouse, southwest of France.
Long before D-day, Airbus' new baby had been the talk of the aviation industry. The reasons are obvious: this double-decker plane can accommodate around 555 people onboard in three class configurations, not to mention that it consumes less fuel.
As Airbus puts it, it's a greener, cleaner, quieter and smarter plane.
As the first carrier to fly the passenger plane, Singapore Airlines will use the A380 for the Singapore-Sydney route.
Thomas Burger, the senior marketing analyst for A380, explained at the launch that the birth of the A380 was a combination of market needs and Airbus' will to invent a better plane in its class.
""The market for large aircraft is led by the Boeing 747 with a 35 percent share. With the new A380, Airbus will be able to compete in this market. And we're confident the A380 will be the most important flagship for the next 30 years.""
However, the delays caused rumors to fly behind the scenes. Burger said the problem was wiring that had to be reinstalled and developed.
""We'd like to deliver the best to our customers. And it turns out that with more time, in the end we became fundamentally solid, even exceeding our expectations,"" he said.
Sitting together with CEOs from Rolls Royce (Sir John Rose) and Singapore Airlines (Chew Choon Seng), Airbus' CEO Thomas Enders said of the delay that they had underestimated the complexity of the aircraft and that the Airbus team (French in Toulouse and German in Hamburg) was not integrated enough.
""Nothing is guaranteed in life. The (A380) is not coming automatically, it is not a walk in the park,"" he reminded.
It certainly is not. For years the development of the A380 has been watched by the aviation industry. Its initial $12 billion budget swelled to over $18 billion, with Airbus losing a reported $7 billion.
However, all the hard work seemed to have paid off at the launch. The more than 500 international guests were treated to a slide presentation. The first thing they noticed, of course, was the plane's big capacity, but they were also informed it is eco-friendly.
Nicknamed the Gentle Green Giant, the A380 along with its Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines -- chosen by Singapore Airlines and seven other airlines to power their A380s -- has set the target for the cleanest and greenest aircraft today. On a seat-mile basis, the A380 burns around 20 percent less fuel than today's large aircraft with carbon dioxide emissions per passenger lower than any other aircraft's.
The A380 produces only half the noise energy at take-off, reducing by half the noise level around the airport runway, making it the quietest large passenger jet ever built. The quiet factor is also experienced inside the cabin.
Comfort is certainly A380's primary goal. In a tour of the cabin, invitees were taken from economy class to business, to the all-new suites.
The 12 private cabins of the suites were created by French yacht designer Jean-Jacques Coste and are equipped with a hand-stitched leather chair, Bose headphones, personal jacket storage room and a double bed -- from two seats arranged together completed by sliding doors and roller blinds for further intimacy.
Proud Chew Choon Seng said to the Toulouse ceremony guests: ""From today, there is a new queen of the sky for air travel ... This is the plane for today and tomorrow"".
He said the Boeing 747 was regrettably a ""has-been"" and history marched onward.
Indeed, the A380 is only the beginning of the new history of the aviation world. Working forward from what A380 has achieved, Thomas Burger stated that Airbus is projecting for zero emission airplanes for the future. ""The journey will never end, but today we're one step closer."" A380 is that step.
A380 FACT SHEET
- Aircraft Range: 7,100 nautical-miles
- Engines: 4 X Rolls Royce Trent 900
- Aircraft Capacity: 471 in 3 class layout
- Configuration: 12 Suites, 60 Business Class, 399 Economy Class
- Height: 24.1 m Length: 73 m
- Fuselage Diameter: 7.1 m
- Cabin Length: 49.9 m
- Maximum Cabin Width (Main Deck): 6.6 m
- Maximum Cabin Width (Upper Deck): 5.9 m
- Wing Area: 845 m2
- Wingspan: 79.8 m (wing tip to wing tip)
Source: The Jakarta Post , Monday, 10/29/2007
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