latest from Reuters .....
"April 22, 2005
The first flight of the world's biggest airliner, the Airbus A380, is expected next week as final tests are run on the massive doubledecker with room for over 800 passengers.
Secrecy and a slight delay have fuelled rumours of fires, collapsed landing gear and plots to spirit away the plane to a deserted German air base as anticipation mounts among enthusiasts lining the fences at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, southern France.
"We've heard them all. There's no truth in any of it," said an Airbus spokeswoman, who reiterated that plans called for flying the plane by the end of the month.
The most closely watched debut since the supersonic Concorde first roared down the runway in 1969, the A380 will fly straight into the history books as the first airliner bigger than the Boeing's 747 jumbo, which debuted four decades ago.
"It's a great milestone in the history of the project," said a spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic, one of the airlines waiting to take delivery of the plane.
Virgin founder Richard Branson, who wants gyms and private double beds on his A380s, had the words "Mine's bigger than yours" written on the side of Virgin's first Airbus A340-600 in 2002 and is expected to have similar fun with the A380.
Airbus has playfully given the first plane the registration F-WWOW.
The 747 helped change the airline business and marked a step change in size, which Boeing celebrated in TV commercials which showed the Harlem Globetrotters tossing basketballs down the aisles.
Airbus has also been celebrating, throwing a gala unveiling in January attended by heads of state and more than 5,000 guests.
But busy chatrooms and the vigil at the factory reflect what fans of the plane really want, and that is to see it fly.
For test pilot Jacques Rosay it has been eight years of waiting as he prepares to set aside simulators for the real thing, taking the A380 through manoeuvres designed to check its four Rolls-Royce engines, avionics and other equipment.
"Simulators are one thing. I could fly you to the Moon on one and be back in time for dinner. Real planes are different," was the wry comment of one former pilot.
Rosay and Captain Claude Lelaie will be part of a crew of six who, in case of catastrophic failure, would likely blow off the cargo door and parachute to safety.
Some USD$12 billion has been spent by Airbus and its suppliers to ensure no such problem arises, and 11 passenger airlines have laid down money to buy more than 100 of the USD$285 million planes.
Flying the A380 is expected to be like any other Airbus, requiring less than two weeks of additional training.
The plane, with a maximum take-off weight of well over one million pounds, is bigger than three Concordes, yet is the product of an intense focus on saving weight as high fuel costs and falling fares squeeze airlines around the world.
"What the airline is looking at above all is the economic case," said an Airbus spokesman.
Rival Boeing agrees, though it has focused on a much smaller money-saver in the 787 due in 2008.
The Concorde had a flawless first flight but it took almost seven years before air travellers could book a ticket.
Airbus this time plans to wind up a gruelling set of flight tests in just over a year, allowing Singapore Airlines to begin service in 2006.
Airbus is expected to use a handful of A380s in tests that cover the globe, trying it out in baking heat and icy conditions in places such as northern Canada.
Engineers on board will be armed with tonnes of diagnostic equipment to examine their drawing board ideas work at speed.
The flight route is likely to extend from Toulouse over the Atlantic Ocean, though Airbus has not released details."
(Reuters)