Airbus A380 - World's Largest Aircraft - Shows Its Stuff to New York City

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The 555-passenger, double-deck Airbus A380 created a stir across the U.S. this week, starting with Monday's dual landing at LAX and JFK airports. The planes were in the U.S. for the first time for a series of route-proving exercises. First delivery of the A380 is slated for October 2007 to Singapore Airlines.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg toured the visiting superjumbo Airbus A380 at John F. Kennedy International Airport early Wednesday morning, shortly before the 21st Century double-decker widebody took to the skies over the Big Apple in a short demonstration flight for a group of invited guests and media. Shown here in a walk-around tour with Airbus Chief Flight Test Engineer Fernando Alonzo (l) and Airbus COO Customers John Leahy (r), Mayor Bloomberg, a recognized aviation enthusiast, visited the exterior and interior of the world's largest passenger aircraft. The 555-seat A380 touched down in the U.S. for the first time on Monday, with dual landings at JFK and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The A380 offers unparalleled comfort, economic efficiency and environmental friendliness to the commercial airline industry, which expects to see a near tripling of passengers worldwide over the next 20 years. The A380 departs JFK Wednesday evening but will return to the U.S. Sunday night. On Monday, March 26, Washington Dulles International Airport will host a group of invited guests in a tour and demonstration flight around the Washington area.

In recognition of the strong relationship between Airbus and the New York City Fire and Police Departments and Airbus' contributions to both in 9-11 recovery efforts, America's first rescue unit, Rescue One, brought their custom-built fire and rescue truck, along with the NYPD's specially built lighting truck to JFK. Also on display was a Police Fire and Rescue vehicle from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Airbus COO-Customer John Leahy joined representatives of the various agencies in position outside the Airbus A380. The police and fire equipment was waiting to salute the Airbus A380 as it landed Wednesday at JFK following a brief demonstration flight around New York. Airbus donated the $750,000 Rescue One apparatus and the $450,000 NYPD lighting truck in 2002 as part of the aircraft manufacturer’s efforts to help New York's emergency teams recover from their devastating losses on September 11th. The double-deck A380 visited JFK this week as part of its first visit to the United States in a route proving exercise that brought the world' largest commercial jet to JFK, Chicago O'Hare, LAX, and Dulles International Airport.