Paris – The Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger jet, took to the sky 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 jet program.
The 308-ton jet touched down Monday evening after a seven-hour round-trip from Toulouse, southern France, with 474 Airbus employees on board, on the first of four test flights this week to try out the plane’s cabin environment and systems.
Airbus says it is on schedule to deliver the first finished A380 to Singapore Airlines Ltd. by the end of the year, despite production bottlenecks that are expected to hold up subsequent deliveries by about six months.
The latest hitches led to the ouster of Airbus chief executive Gustav Humbert as well as Noel Forgeard, joint CEO of Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., weeks after they were announced in June.
Monday saw a further management shuffle at Airbus, which named a new head of the A380 program. Mario Heinen, previously in charge of the single-aisle A320 plane family, replaces Charles Champion – who also steps down from his role as chief operating officer, but stays on as an adviser to Christian Streiff, who succeeded Humbert as CEO in July.
Streiff has imposed a temporary hiring freeze 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 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.
The A380 faces another hurdle in November, when a working group within the International Civil Aviation Organization is to report on the A380’s “wake vortices” – air turbulence that can be dangerous to other planes flying close behind.
Because of its size, the ICAO has temporarily set a much larger minimum exclusion zone for the A380 than Boeing 747 jumbos. If made permanent, the rules could hold up airport traffic behind the super jumbo and reduce the plane’s efficiency.
