PARIS - The Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet, took off with a full load of passengers for the first time Monday and the European aircraft maker announced further management changes in the wake of costly delays to the $13 billion super jumbo program. ADVERTISEMENT
Carrying 474 Airbus employees, the 308-ton jet left from Toulouse, southern France, on the first of four test flights scheduled this week to try out the plane's cabin environment and systems with passengers on board.
Airbus says it is on schedule to deliver the first finished A380 to Singapore Airlines Ltd. by the end of the year, despite the latest wave of costly delays that are expected to hold up subsequent deliveries by about six months. The setback led to the July ouster of Airbus CEO Gustav Humbert as well as Noel Forgeard, joint CEO of Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.
Monday saw a further management shuffle at Airbus, which named as the new A380 program head Mario Heinen, the former chief of the single-aisle A320 program. He replaces Charles Champion, who also steps down from his role as chief operating officer but stays on as an adviser to the new Airbus CEO, Christian Streiff.
Streiff has imposed a temporary hiring freeze at Airbus and is scheduled to report to shareholders by the end of this month on the full extent of the A380 delays, following a detailed audit.
With the A380, Airbus has bet heavily on future demand for very large planes to fly growing numbers of travelers among the world's increasingly congested major airports. In mid-sized, long-range jets — where Boeing Co. sees much more demand — Airbus is about four years behind its U.S.-based rival's next-generation plane, the 787 Dreamliner, tailored to cover more destinations with more frequent, nonstop services.
The A380 can seat as many as 555 people in three classes, but launch customer Singapore Airlines is expected to operate the plane with a configuration similar to the 474-seat layout chosen for the test flights with passengers.
During Monday's seven-hour sortie, about 25 cabin equipment technicians and the remaining volunteers — chosen from 15,000 Airbus staff who entered an internal lottery — are trying out the super jumbo's seating, kitchens and cabin features such as air conditioning and in-flight entertainment.
Flight tests with volunteer passengers are not a required step toward the plane's certification but nonetheless help to ensure that "airlines will benefit from a fully mature aircraft on delivery," Airbus said in a statement.
The super jumbo is entering the final stages of its test program, with 1,900 hours of flying time already logged by its team of test pilots.
It faces a significant hurdle in November, when a working group within the International Civil Aviation Organization is due to report back on the A380's "wake vortices" — air turbulence created by airliners that can be dangerous to other planes flying close behind.
As a precaution because of its size, ICAO has temporarily set a much larger minimum exclusion zone behind an airborne A380 than around Boeing 747 jumbos. If adopted permanently, the rules could hold up airport traffic behind the super jumbo and reduce the plane's efficiency.
Airbus argues that the A380 is no worse for wake turbulence than the largest version of Boeing's 747.
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