Airbus superjumbo lands at New York's JFK
Enlarge Photo The Emirates Airline's Airbus A380 arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York... Sat, Aug 2 03:00 AM
By Bill Rigby
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Airbus's A380 superjumbo touched down at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday, marking the first commercial arrival of the giant, double-decker passenger plane on U.S. soil.
The Emirates aircraft, carrying 489 passengers, landed smoothly and on time after a 12-1/2 hour flight from Dubai.
The Gulf-based carrier, owned by the government of Dubai, is the second airline to put the A380 into service, following Singapore Airlines, which started A380 flights to Sydney in October.
The plane, costing $327 million at list prices, did visit New York and Los Angeles in March last year for route-testing purposes, but Friday's flight was the first regularly scheduled arrival of an A380 in the United States.
With its huge capacity and relatively fuel-efficient engines, airlines hope the world's biggest passenger jet will be the most cost-effective way of serving high-volume routes linking big cities, especially in light of soaring oil prices.
The touchdown marks a hard-won victory for Airbus, part of aerospace group EADS, which spent $10 billion and more than a decade on Europe's largest industrial project, in the face of widespread skepticism.
Airbus now has orders for about 200 of the planes from 16 airlines, but none from U.S. carriers. The company is still struggling to iron out production problems after an 18-month delay in getting the first one out of its Toulouse, France, plant.
The delays ended up pushing Airbus into loss and toppling its management, and are still causing political aftershocks in France.
OUTSELLING BOEING
Despite problems, the plane is outselling its nearest competitor, Boeing Co's revamped, expanded 747-8 jumbo, known as the Intercontinental.
Boeing, which invented the concept of mass travel over great distances with its original 747 in the 1970s, has sold only 27 passenger 747-8s so far. The plane, which can seat 467 people in a standard layout, is set to fly first in Lufthansa colors in 2010.
While the A380's success may be bad news for Boeing, plenty of U.S. suppliers are providing parts and electronics for the superjumbo, including Honeywell International Inc, Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc, Rockwell Collins Inc and Goodrich Corp.
The engines on the Emirates A380 are also U.S.-made, produced by the Engine Alliance, a joint venture between General Electric Co and Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp.
Emirates, the world's number-seven airline in terms of international passengers, is the biggest buyer of A380s, with 58 on order, worth almost $190 billion at list prices. After New York, it plans to fly the planes to London from December, then Sydney and Auckland from February.
Some 20 airports worldwide are currently able to handle the giant A380, which needs extra-wide runways for its long wingspan and two-tiered facilities for loading and unloading passengers.
Emirates took possession of the plane in a glitzy ceremony in Hamburg on Monday, flying it to Dubai and then over to New York. The plane has 14 first-class suites, two on-board showers and a bar for first-class customers, as well as a lounge for premium passengers.
Emirates, along with regional rivals Qatar Airways, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways and Bahrain's Gulf Air, are expanding their fleets and routes even as European and U.S. carriers find themselves pinched by high fuel prices and waning demand.
Oil-rich United Arab Emirates hopes the new planes will help it transform into a world business and leisure capital in the next few years, aiming to attract 15 million visitors a year by 2012.
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