Dear Friends Here are the airlines who have ordered the A380, and whether they currently operate flights to the United States. Singapore Airlines (YES) Lufthansa (YES) Emirates (YES) Air France (YES) Qantas (YES) Malaysia Airlines (YES) Virgin Atlantic (YES) International Lease Finance (WILL DEPEND ON CUSTOMER) Qatar Airways (NO) Korean Air (YES) Fed Ex (YES) Dave's tongue-in-cheek email brings home reality. No US carrier that needs such an aircraft can afford the price tag. The king of the hill is no longer Boeing, but the company from across the pond. And now there is talk of protectionism, preventing those carriers with A380s from flying that aircraft to the US. For political and geographical reasons, decades ago San Francisco chose not to embrace shipping's container revolution. This decision paved the way for forward-looking Oakland to become the largest container port in the Bay area, and forth largest in the US. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, the revamped SFO airport has gates that can accommodate the A380. Russell SIN PM 3/10/04 +1100, you wrote: >Other than FedEx I doubt any US carrier could afford them. Unless of course >there was some way for the US carriers to convince the US govt to buy them >some as a gift. Of course something like that would never happen.... > >Anyway why should US airports accommodate them if no US carriers are buying >them? We all know only US airlines use US airports.