I wonder if the Internet had existed how many people would have been discussing the latest visit to the hardware shop by the Wright brothers, "You want to do what!! with cloth, wood and sting?, That will never work".
Besides, always like the saying, you put enough power behind something, you can guarantee it will fly.
I honestly don't know what the big commotion is about whether or not this thing would fly, and especially comments from the Boeing camps, the whole US - Europe thing is honestly just stupid. If you take all that BS out of the equation, it is a step forward, great that it is flying, and it is an amazing engineering feat. Mind you probably not that amazing when you really think about it as there are much larger planes flying. Ok, it has two decks, but is it really that radically different? If you are thinking that it is radically different, I would like to ask what you think makes it radically different to the other aircraft that are flying today? If it had been designed to carry passengers in the wing, then yeah, I think that I would have reservations that it would fly as it is expected.
I am however a little afraid of composites in the manufacture of aircraft, but then again, the company who built the first metal airframe probably coped the same flack. I guess time will tell.
Anyhow, my congratulations to the engineering team, construction and the rest of the Airbus team, where ever you are. Think you should be proud of your achievement, whether you are French, Bristish, Spanish, German or Martian.