The new double-decker Airbus 380, the world's largest commercial aircraft, hit European skies on May 18, when it did a test run out of London's Heathrow airport.
The plane has a maximum cruising speed of 660 mph and is considerably more fuel-efficient than all its predecessors.
This super jumbo airliner can carry as many as 840 economy class passengers, that is about one-third more than a Boeing 747 can. It has a wingspan of 50 feet, a little shorter than a cricket pitch, a length equivalent to eight elephants, but looks much squatter and more unsightly than an elephant.
It can also house duty-free shops, hair salons, jacuzzis, lounges, bowling alleys in its galleys - like a mini flying airport - depending on how much its future passengers are willing to pay for tickets.
Singapore Airlines plans to be the first commercial airline to use this plane, priced today at $295 million, when it incorporates 10 of them in its fleet later this year.
According to the Airbus site: orders for 159 Airbus 380s have been booked worldwide; the only order from an Indian airline is for five planes from Kingfisher Airlines.
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Fewer airports -- some 66, says the BBC -- across the world will be able to handle the Airbus 380 because of its gigantic wingspan.
Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty
