A380

NEW YORK -- The latest jetliner to claim the title of world's biggest passenger aircraft completed its inaugural flight to the United States yesterday , flying on football field-length wings and a prayer that airlines will want to shell out $300 million to buy the behemoth double-decker jet. The four-engine Airbus A380 descended from a sunny sky and touched down at John F. Kennedy International Airport about 12:10 p.m. after an 8-hour flight from...

Airbus parent company EADS said Wednesday its first quarter earnings were hammered by a hefty (EURO)158-million ($203-million) charge to fix problematic wing parts on its flagship A380 superjumbo. EADS says the charge to fix the so-called "wing rib feet" — the metal brackets that connect the wing's ribs to its skin — on all the A380s in service had left first quarter profit at (EURO)133 million. That's still well above the (EURO)12 million the company lost in the year earlier period due to an accounting change.

ON BOARD FLIGHT SQ380 - The world's largest jetliner made aviation history yesterday, completing its first commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney with 455 passengers, some of them in luxury suites and double beds. The Airbus superjumbo lifted off from Changi Airport and landed about seven hours later. Also aboard was a crew of about 30, including four pilots. Flight attendants handed out champagne and certificates to passengers, some of whom paid tens of thousands of dollars in an online auction for seats.

PARIS - European air safety regulators yesterday ordered inspections of the entire fleet of Airbus A380 jets for tiny cracks in a wing component, extending a directive that had applied to only about a third of the 68 superjumbos in service. The news that the cracks, which began surfacing on dozens of wing brackets late last year, could be more widespread comes at a time when Airbus's chief rival, Boeing, is also grappling with what it said Tuesday were minor defects on its 787 "Dreamliner" - refocusing attention on the teething pains that often accompany the roll-out of new planes.

Europe's air safety authority is calling on airlines to inspect their A380 superjumbo jets after Airbus found new cracks in the metal brackets inside the wings. The European Aviation Safety Agency on Friday issued an airworthiness directive that called for "a detailed visual inspection" of the aircraft's so-called "wing rib feet" — the metal brackets that connect the wing's ribs to its skin. The agency gives airlines between four days and six weeks from Jan. 24 to carry out the checks, depending on how much flying time the plane already has clocked up. Sixty-eight of the...

PARIS - After repeated, embarrassing delays, Airbus is to deliver its first A380 superjumbo jet today - a critical step for the plane maker in its efforts to rebound from a string of troubles. The double-decker jet, the world's largest passenger plane, is to take off from Toulouse, Airbus's headquarters, for delivery to Singapore Airlines following a glitzy delivery ceremony including a sound and light show. Chief executive Thomas Enders called the handover "a major milestone for the A380 program.

PARIS - Seventeen current and former executives at the parent company of Airbus, EADS, went on trial yesterday for allegedly making millions by exploiting their company’s troubles with the delayed A380 superjumbo project. French regulators suspect EADS officials of insider trading because they sold stock options before the plane maker announced a big production delay that sent its shares plunging. The case could result in fines for European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV. Yesterday’s session focused on procedural issues.

TOULOUSE, France -- Airbus put its stamp on aviation history yesterday, unveiling the world's largest commercial jet and raising the stakes in its 35-year rivalry with Boeing Co. The double-decker A380 "superjumbo," capable of flying as many as 800 passengers, gives the European plane maker a new flagship and completes its range of jets at a time when Boeing is losing market share and reducing production. French President Jacques Chirac and other European leaders struck a triumphal note at the ceremony.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — It is not an ordinary day here. An important sheik has died, so a city that should be surging with light and sound is dialed down. In the Emirates a day of mourning is a serious thing. Only classical chords waft from the car radio. The newspapers are purple-edged with ads of condolence on every page. No hard liquor is being poured in hotel bars. And while I am sorry about the sheik, a part of me is walled off from what is going on. I am just a tourist after all. And I am flying tonight, which is lifting my mood.

PARIS -- The two-year delay to the Airbus A380 is proving costlier than expected, parent company EADS said yesterday in a profit warning that sent shares lower as the aircraft maker confirmed it had lost its five-year lead in orders to Boeing Co. Airbus won orders for 824 airliners last year, the company said -- well short of both Boeing's 1,050 tally and its own industry record of 1,111 in 2005 -- but delivered 434 planes to its US-based rival's...

Europe's air safety authority is calling on airlines to inspect their A380 superjumbo jets after Airbus found new cracks in the metal brackets inside the wings. The European Aviation Safety Agency on Friday issued an airworthiness directive that called for "a detailed visual inspection" of the aircraft's so-called "wing rib feet" — the metal brackets that connect the wing's ribs to its skin. The agency gives airlines between four days and six weeks from Jan. 24 to carry out the checks, depending on how much flying time the plane already has clocked up. Sixty-eight of the...

Airbus and Boeing signed over $25 billion in orders to kick off the Paris Air Show on Monday, but the European jet maker’s appearance at the industry’s biggest annual event suffered a setback when its star superjumbo clipped a wing. The haul from the first day of the show was an improvement from recent years despite a challenging environment for the industry, which faces high fuel prices, a slowing global economy and uncertainty caused by violence in the Middle East and Japan’s natural disasters.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — It is not an ordinary day here. An important sheik has died, so a city that should be surging with light and sound is dialed down. In the Emirates a day of mourning is a serious thing. Only classical chords waft from the car radio. The newspapers are purple-edged with ads of condolence on every page. No hard liquor is being poured in hotel bars. And while I am sorry about the sheik, a part of me is walled off from what is going on. I am just a tourist after all. And I am flying tonight, which is lifting my...

SYDNEY — An oil leak was the most likely cause of the midair disintegration of a superjumbo engine last month, investigators confirmed today. They said a potentially dangerous manufacturing defect may still exist in Rolls-Royce engines used by 20 of the A380s. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau released its preliminary report into the blowout that caused a Qantas A380 to make an emergency landing Nov. 4 in what was the most significant safety issue for the world’s newest and largest jetliner.

GENEVA — The United States has appealed its own victory in a landmark trade ruling against European subsidies of Airbus, asking the World Trade Organization to toughen its condemnation of the European Union’s financial meddling in a market worth more than $3 trillion over the next two decades. Details were not immediately made public. But a US trade spokeswoman confirmed the United States has joined Belgium in challenging findings from June’s verdict that the plane maker had gained an unfair advantage over US competitor Boeing Co....

United Airlines said yesterday it will spend billions over the next decade on 50 new jets, splitting its order between Boeing Co.’s 787 and the Airbus A350. Deliveries are expected between 2016 and 2019. The planes will replace United’s Boeing 747 and 767s. At list prices the new jets would be worth more than $10 billion, with about $4 billion for Boeing’s 787-8 and around $6 billion for the Airbus planes. United president John Tague said the carrier got a discount on the price, which is common for jet orders, though he didn’t specify how much.

PARIS -- Airbus, which has delivered more airplanes than Boeing for the second year in a row, is about to unveil another number one: the world's largest passenger jet. The A380, a four-aisle, four-engine, double-decker "superjumbo," will roll onto the tarmac tomorrow at Airbus headquarters in southern France, in a lavish ceremony attended by EU leaders and thousands of guests. Sales have beat expectations so far, and most of the technical problems that have dogged the program have been resolved.

FRANKFURT, Germany -- It may trail the historic impact of Charles Lindbergh's 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic, but the Spirit of St. Louis also did not have a wingspan wider than a football field or space for more than 500 passengers. For plane builder Airbus and German airline Lufthansa AG, the A380's first flight to North America today is a chance to show off the superjumbo to potential US buyers and to the airports they hope will be flight bases for the double-decker jet. "We're talking about an airplane that is representing aviation in the 21st century in terms of...

PARIS - Seventeen current and former executives at the parent company of Airbus, EADS, went on trial yesterday for allegedly making millions by exploiting their company’s troubles with the delayed A380 superjumbo project. French regulators suspect EADS officials of insider trading because they sold stock options before the plane maker announced a big production delay that sent its shares plunging. The case could result in fines for European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV. Yesterday’s session focused on procedural issues.

SYDNEY - Aviation pioneer Nancy Bird-Walton, who became the first woman in Australia to operate a commercial aircraft, died yesterday. She was 93. Ms. Walton, who was named a Living National Treasure by the National Trust of Australia in 1997, died at her Sydney home yesterday afternoon, her granddaughter Anna Holman said. "I most remember her as my grandmother, who was a part of my everyday life and who was exceptionally inspirational to women all over Australia," Holman said.