Airbus targets domestic airlines for A380 =20 =20 >From B S Arun=20 DH News Service New Delhi:=20 =20 According to sources in the company, an Indian airline has asked for a plan= e with an all-economy configuration =96 which means a carrying capacity of = 850.=20 =20 =20 Airbus Industrie may have lost to its American rival Boeing in the race to = sell its aircraft to Air-India, but the European company is seriously pursu= ing private airlines in India, pitching the biggest passenger aircraft ever= built, the A380.=20 Senior officials in Airbus Industrie told Deccan Herald that the company is= in serious talks with at least one such carrier which may buy the super-ju= mbo sometime next year.=20 Refusing to disclose the name of the airline, Mr Nigel Harwood, Airbus Vice= -President, Sales (India and South Asia), said: =93There are several reques= ts for the A380 worldwide and in India one domestic carrier has expressed i= nterest in purchasing it. It will have an all-economy configuration, which = means the aircraft will have 850 seats. It will fly in the domestic sector.= We are also working with the Airports Authority of India to prepare Indian= airports to receive A380s.=94=20 =20 Mr Harwood=92s statement points to the likelihood that the new Indian buyer= would be a budget airline, a carrier other than Indian Airlines, Jet Airwa= ys and Air Sahara. The budget airlines, apart from Air Deccan, which are li= kely to take off in the next year include Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet, Ma= gic Air, Go Air, Air One and Yamuna Airlines. As of now, Deccan and Kingfis= her, which have asked for Airbus aircraft, have not included A380 on their = shopping list. SpiceJet has favoured an all-Boeing fleet.=20 The double-decker A380, which last week successfully completed its initial = test flight at Toulouse, its manufacturing base in France, will start comme= rcial flights from 2006 when Singapore Airlines receives the first of the $= 285-million aircraft. Airbus has 154 orders for the 560 ton plane from lead= ing airlines like Lufthansa, Virgin and Air France; Emirates Air tops the l= ist with an order for 43 aircraft.=20 Airports gear up=20 While airports around the world, including Heathrow in London, JFK in New Y= ork, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Frankfurt, a= re upgrading to welcome the A380, Indian airports will have to gear up too.= =20 Singapore Airlines is expected to fly A380 to either Mumbai or Delhi late n= ext year, making it mandatory for AAI to upgrade these airports.=20 AAI Chairman K Ramalingam said in Chennai on Sunday that his organisation w= ould take up work at the four international airports in the metropolitan ci= ties to handle A380 jets.=20 The A380s need exclusive parking bays, strengthening of taxiing tracks and = adequate space for the mighty 79.9 metre wing span. =93AAI has received wri= tten requests from various foreign carriers, especially those having a larg= e presence at Indian airports, such as Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airline= s and Lufthansa,=94 Mr Ramalingam said.=20 Also, AAI must take care of what happens inside the terminal: check-in spac= e, baggage handling and security to service up to 850 passengers. For inter= national terminals it will also have to provide space and increase manpower= at the customs and immigration counters. =20 Roger EWROPS