http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070207/ap_on_re_eu/france_aboard_the_a380_1"The superjumbo may turn heads, but whether it can turn a profit remains to be seen. Analysts estimate the program's total cost has reached as much as 15 billion euros ($19.5 billion).
Harald Liberge of CM-CIC Securities is skeptical about the 420-plane break-even point previously projected by Airbus — particularly in light of the compensation talks still under way over much of the current A380 order book. Airbus Chief Operating Officer Mario Heinen declined to give a revised program cost or confirm the break-even figure. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/business/worldbusiness/08air.html"“Did you know you could fit 35 million Ping-Pong balls into an A380? Or that it weighs as much as 500 Volkswagen Golfs?†Mr. Leahy asked his seatmate on the plane’s capacious upper deck.
Once the A380 was safely aloft, cruising above the snow-capped Pyrenees, the flight felt more like a ride in the family van with 200 unruly children in the back. But it also served to show off the charms of a 519-seat plane. Even with all the journalists, there was row after row of empty seats.
Not to belabor the point, but this thing is big.
With a 239-foot-long fuselage (the length of eight London buses), a 262-foot wingspan (room enough to park 70 vehicles) and an engine thrust at takeoff equivalent to 2,500 cars, the A380 is longer, taller, wider and 118 tons heavier than the Boeing 747, the reigning giant of the skies."
"When packed with seats, the A380 can hold 840 people. Airbus used this plane for evacuation drills last year, and it said all 840 were able to pile out in 78 seconds, with only a couple of broken bones. It is not clear what would happen if they all needed to use the restroom at the same time."
