A380s touch down on two U.S. runways
Laura Bly, USA TODAY, 3/20/2007 (excerpted)
NEW YORK — The biggest airliner ever built swooped in for its U.S. debut Monday, drawing hundreds of gawkers on opposite coasts as two test flights of the double-decker Airbus A380 made back-to-back landings in New York and Los Angeles.
The dual arrivals marked the launch of an American road show that will showcase the troubled jumbo jet, which carries a list price of $300 million. It's two years behind delivery schedule because of wiring problems and a series of management crises at Airbus, the commercial airplane division of European Aeronautic Defence and Space, or EADS. Airbus will deliver its first A380s to Singapore Airlines in October, with commercial service expected to start by the end of 2007.
PHOTO GALLERY: Get a look at the A380
Unlike the Los Angeles plane, which flew from Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, with only technicians aboard, the New York-bound A380 arrived from Frankfurt at John F. Kennedy International Airport with 460 non-paying passengers, 31 crewmembers and technicians from Airbus and Lufthansa, and some reporters. The German carrier, which operated the flight, has ordered 15 of the A380 jets and plans to launch commercial service in 2009.
From New York, the plane will make a demonstration flight to Chicago's O'Hare International today before returning to Frankfurt. The aircraft then travels to Hong Kong and back to Frankfurt before a stop at Washington Dulles International on Sunday.
The first American look at Airbus' 239-foot-long flagship comes at a difficult time for the aircraft maker, whose parent company has cut its profit forecast by more than $6.6 billion. Last Friday, thousands of workers across Europe staged strikes and protests against an Airbus restructuring plan that will ax 10,000 jobs.
And the short-term likelihood of U.S.-based carriers buying the plane, which can be configured to hold up to 853 passengers but which will start service with 555 or less, is relatively slim. By comparison, most 747s carry between 360 and 385.
The aircraft is designed for long-haul flights to major hub airports, which are spending millions to upgrade their facilities. Four U.S. airports — Kennedy, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington Dulles — are "virtually ready" for the A380, Airbus' Mary Anne Greczyn said.
Monday, the plane was clearly a star. With news helicopters hovering and ground workers clutching cameras, the gargantuan bulb-nosed aircraft — eight stories high and with a wingspan nearly a football field wide — made a hard but spot-on landing to a chorus of passenger cheers. It lumbered into its arrival gate just after noon, 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
The eight-hour Frankfurt-to-New York route-proving flight was the first to approximate actual operating conditions. Lufthansa pilot Juergen Raps said flying the jumbo was like "driving a Ferrari... You would expect it to be like flying a truck, but it's very responsive."
On board, passengers marveled at the smooth takeoff and unusually quiet cabin. The Airbus plane will be altered for each airline customer with actual cabin configurations and amenities a closely held secret. The company has 156 orders for A380s from 14 airlines.
But some coach passengers, such as Munich-based banker Ulrike Ziegler, pointed out that for all its size-based advantages — including coach seats about an inch wider than those on 747s — spending nine hours on the A380 is not exactly a "cruise ship in the sky."
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience to fly on this plane," Ziegler said. "But I expected more space in economy."