Soaring heavyweight
That aircraft that evolved from the dreams of conceptual designers in Airbus Industrie offices spread across France,Germany, Britain and Spain is made up of more than 4 million components from 1500 companies in30 countries
These parts,manufactured to exacting tolerances, meshbin one gigantic Meccan-like chain for final assembly in the idyllic southern French city of Toulse.Each A380 thatvrolls our of assembly hangar has a $US414.4 million price tag,although an order for several is reported to attract discounts of at least 15 percent.
The first A380 prototype made its maiden flight from toulse on April 27,2005 and entered revenue service with Singapore Airlines on the Singapore-Sydney Route in October2007.
