=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2007/03/20/BUGPAOO29N= 1.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, March 20, 2007 (SF Chronicle) Transatlantic flights carry lots of questions/Airbus brings its much-delaye= d jumbo jet to U.S. David Armstrong, Chronicle Staff Writer When the biggest passenger jet ever built landed Monday at airports in N= ew York and Los Angeles after its first transatlantic test flights, the double-decker jumbo Airbus A380 produced wide-eyed stares and much clicking of cameras. Beyond the immensity of the aircraft lie huge issues in commercial aviation. Set to finally go into commercial service in October after nearly two years of production delays, the A380 will bring to the fore debate over a number of issues. They include whether ever-bigger planes or midsize planes flying ever-longer routes -- such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner now in production -- will rule the skies; whether Boeing will recapture its lead from EADS Airbus; whether the United States and the European Union can stop accusing each other of accepting government subsidies while each denies doing so; and even what airports will dominate international markets by renovating terminals and runways to handle the huge A380. Lufthansa flew the first transatlantic A380 full of passengers -- 500 invited guests -- from Frankfurt, Germany, to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. After lobbying aggressively, Los Angeles International Airport landed a second A380, sans passengers, carrying the Qantas colors from Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France. Both Qantas, the Australian carrier, and Lufthansa, the German carrier, have ordered the A380. Singapore Airlines, which plans to take possession of its first A380 jumbos in October, was the first to order. Monday's maiden flights to the United States follow earlier test flights with passengers to major European and Asian cities. Airbus has marketed the A380 as a 555-passenger aircraft, considerably more capacity than today's biggest jetliner, the Boeing 747-400, which carries about 400 people. However, the airlines decide the ultimate seating configuration, and industry experts say that despite the early hype about on-board gyms, airborne beauty salons and cool bars, some airlines will instead stuff 700 or 800 passengers into the plane. San Francisco International Airport hopes to attract flights using A380s, given its prominence as a destination and transfer point for travelers crossing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. SFO has proclaimed itself ready to accommodate them, and even held a media event in January 2005 to say so. "We see our growth coming in the international market," SFO director John Martin said two years ago. "These aircraft are very efficient. They'll handle four to five times more passengers than our average flight of about 125 passengers." "We lobbied hard" to get one of the test flights to land in San Francisc= o, said SFO spokesman Michael McCarron, "and we knew LAX was lobbying. LAX got it. We aren't sure why." He said the airport expects Singapore Airlines to fly the A380 to SFO when regular service begins. SFO widened some taxiways and strengthened surfaces to handle the heavy plane, McCarron said, but otherwise the airport needed few changes. "The International Terminal was built with double-deck levels at the gateways to accommodate the A380," McCarron said. SFO is the only Bay Area airport in the running to take the A380. It receives more than 90 percent of international passengers in Northern California, far more than Oakland International Airport or Mineta San Jose International Airport, which specialize in shorter domestic flights. According to news reports, LAX has budgeted $121 million just to get rea= dy for the A380 and is still not prepared for regular service to begin. Last year, Virgin Atlantic Airways CEO Richard Branson said his airline, which has ordered several of the planes, plans to delay taking delivery chiefly because Virgin wasn't convinced LAX would be ready on time. The A380 is designed for long flights to big hub airports like SFO and represents a high-stakes gamble by Airbus, which originally expected to have the plane ready a year ago and has taken orders for 156 of the aircraft. None of the orders has come from cash-strapped U.S. passenger airlines. However, problems caused in part by complex electrical wiring on the aircraft have delayed delivery, which in turn led to turmoil at the company. The chief executive officer resigned over snafus with the A380, and Airbus -- a European consortium backed by four governments -- said recently that it will lay off 10,000 workers. That announcement, in turn, has sparked strikes by Airbus workers. To add to the drumbeat of trouble, Airbus canceled further work on the freighter version of the A380. UPS was the only customer for the cargo-carrying version and has since canceled its order for 10 planes because of repeated delays. Chicago's Boeing Co., this country's largest commercial aircraft manufacturer, has put its money on building a medium-size aircraft called the B787 Dreamliner, which is made for long flights but will carry from 200 to 300 people and be able to serve smaller airports as well as hubs. The Dreamliner is scheduled to begin flying in 2008. Made of light composite materials and touted as highly fuel-efficient, Boeing is pitting the 787's sleekness against the A380's size. Early orders for the B787 have been strong, prompting Airbus to hedge its bets on the A380 and start planning for a midsize aircraft called the A350 to compete with the B787. All this comes against the backdrop of international trade disputes. The United States, acting at the behest of Boeing executives, has filed a case against the European Union before the World Trade Organization, charging that the governments of EU members Britain, Germany, France and Spain have illegally subsidized Airbus to the tune of billions of euros so it can build the costly A380. Washington charges this is a violation of WTO rules and has asked a panel of WTO judges to rule on the matter. Not to be outdone, the EU has accused the United States of lavishing lucrative defense and aerospace contracts on Boeing -- along with incentives offered by the states of Kansas and Washington -- which the EU says constitute de facto market-distorting subsidies. All this acrimony has clouded the debut of the superjumbo, which is still months away from flying a commercial route that is not a staged media event. But Airbus got what it wanted from Monday's spectacular twin landings, which is to draw attention to the aircraft and make awed spectators forget about the company's troubles and the painful way they are playing out on the international stage. Big, bigger The new Airbus superjumbo jet surpasses Boeing's 747 in scale. Boeing 747-400ER Length: 225 ft. 2 in. Wingspan: 211 ft. 5 in. Seats (three classes): 416 Range (fully loaded): 8,827 miles Fuel capacity: 63,705 gallons Maximum takeoff weight: 910,000 lbs. Airbus A380-800 Length: 239 ft. 3 in. Wingspan: 261 ft. 8 in. Seats (three classes): 555 Range (fully loaded): 9,321 miles Fuel capacity: 81,890 gallons Maximum takeoff weight: 1,235,000 lbs. Sources: Boeing; Airbus New York Times 747-400ER E-mail David Armstrong at davidarmstrong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --------------= -------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2007 SF Chronicle <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".