'Superjumbo' A380 lands safely
 |  The Airbus "superjumbo" lands safely at Toulouse, France. |
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 The Airbus A380 takes off from Toulouse, France, for its maiden voyage.
 A decade after the initial planning and design, the Airbus A380 is set to make a jumbo debut.
 Airbus unveils the biggest commercial jet ever built in Toulouse, France.
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TOULOUSE, France (CNN) -- The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, has landed safely in Toulouse, France after making its first test flight.
The double-decker "superjumbo" touched down on the runway at 2:22 p.m. (1222 GMT) Wednesday after a nearly four-hour flight with six crew members aboard.
"The takeoff was absolutely perfect," chief test pilot Jacques Rosay told reporters by radio from the A380 cockpit as he flew at 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) just north of the Pyrenees mountains, about an hour into the flight.
"The weather's wonderful."
Before it landed, the A380 -- its front lights shining -- did a slow fly-past above the airport in the Toulouse suburb of Blagnac, southwest France, where it had taken off at 10:29 a.m. (0829 GMT).
An estimated 30,000 onlookers, both invited and uninvited, cheered and applauded as the white-and-blue jet landed -- just as they did when it took off.
In Paris, French Cabinet ministers broke into applause when President Jacques Chirac told them of the successful takeoff.
Immediately after the landing, Chirac hailed the "total success of the first test flight of the Airbus A380."
In a statement from his office, Chirac said "a new page of aeronautical history has been written. ... It is a magnificent result for European industrial cooperation and an encouragement to pursue this path of building a Europe of innovation and progress."
The European Union's industry commissioner, Guenter Verheugen, said the flight was a European "success story."
"This 'Super-Airbus' proves that cooperation with the EU pays off," he said.
The head of competitor Boeing's French division, Yves Galland, said he had watched the televised takeoff and, just this once, "shared the emotion of the people of Airbus."
But, speaking on LCI television, he also reiterated Boeing's argument that Airbus has overestimated the market for jumbo jets, which he called "quite weak."
Plane enthusiasts have watched in recent days as the A380 performed ground tests and taxiing maneuvers at the airport in Blagnac, where Airbus is headquartered.
The 308-ton jet stayed within about 100 miles (160 kilometers) of Toulouse, circling the region and beaming back real-time measurements from 22 tons of on-board test instruments to Airbus headquarters, officials said.
Including its bulky test equipment, fittings and fuel, Airbus said the A380 weighed 464 tons on takeoff Wednesday -- about 75 percent of its maximum authorized takeoff weight for commercial flights.
Weather conditions were nearly ideal for the takeoff and landing, with sunny skies and a gentle breeze blowing across the tarmac.
Airbus had warned that the flight, already about a month behind schedule, could have been further delayed by an unforeseen change in the wind.
A strong southerly wind from the Mediterranean would have meant automatic postponement, since it would have required a takeoff over the town -- considered too risky for a test flight.
Rosay, flight captain Claude Lelaie and their four fellow crew members wore parachutes for the flight in accordance with Airbus policy, spokeswoman Barbara Kracht told The Associated Press.
A handrail leads from the cockpit to an escape door that can be jettisoned if the pilots lose control of the plane.
Risks on a maiden voyage are very slim, aviation experts say, since a plane's aerodynamic characteristics are already well known before it takes off, thanks to years of computer modeling and wind-tunnel tests, AP said.
Problems are more likely, but still very rare, later in the test-flight program, when the pilots deliberately take the plane to its limits.
An Airbus A330 prototype crashed here in July 1994, killing chief test pilot Nick Warner and six others as they conducted a simulated engine failure exercise, AP reported.
Airbus vs. Boeing
Made by European company Airbus, the A380 is set to challenge the Boeing 747's long dominance of the jumbo jet market.
Airbus says dozens of airports are being updated to cope with the huge plane and extra passengers although its American rival Boeing says few are ready now.
The U.S. company also has embarked on a midsize long-range aircraft it is calling the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing is also looking at further modifying its aging 747 to take 450 passengers.
Boeing scored two victories this week in its trans-Atlantic battle with Airbus with announcements of major purchases by Air Canada and Air India.
On Monday, Air Canada's parent company said it had made firm orders for 18 Boeing 777 jets and 14 of the company's 787 Dreamliner jets in a deal worth $5 billion at list prices.
As part of a plan to overhaul Air Canada's fleet, parent ACE Aviation Holdings said it also had options to buy a further 18 more 777 jets and 46 more 787s. (Full story)
And the board of India's state-owned international airline, Air India, has approved an order to purchase 50 Boeing aircraft worth $8 billion, Boeing executives in Mumbai confirmed to CNN.
The Boeing planes included in the deal are eight 777-200LR ultra long-range models, 15 777-300ER long-range aircraft with 350 seats and 27 787 long-range aircraft with 250 seats. (Full story)
Meanwhile, China signed contracts on April 21 to buy five Airbus A380s and 25 other Airbus jetliners in a series of deals totaling more than $3.2 billion. (Full story)
Thirteen companies have placed firm orders for 149 of the A380t, which comes with a catalogue price of between $263 million and $286 million (200 million and 218 million euros).
France, Britain, Germany and Spain all invested heavily in the 10-year, 10-billion-plus euro ($13-billion-plus) program to build the A380.
Although the project has run some $1.4 billion over budget, Airbus believes it will recoup its costs in 2008 and be an extremely profitable flagship product for decades to come.
Airbus chief Noel Forgeard told CNN in January the aircraft had already nearly covered its costs. The A380 was originally unveiled at a star-studded event on January 18 in France. (Full story)
In a typical passenger layout, the jet has 555 seats and four aisles, with a range of up to 15,000 kilometers (8,000 nautical miles).
UPS and FedEx have ordered a freight version which is to be unveiled at a later date and will be able to carry cargos of 150 tons over 10,400 kilometers.
Some passenger planes will have cocktail bars, double beds and massages, while Airbus has suggested that selected jets may even have jacuzzis and mini-casinos.
According to Airbus, the A380 has about a 13 percent lower fuel burn than the 747 and is the first long-haul aircraft to consume less than 3 liters of fuel per passenger over 100 km -- said to be as efficient as an average family car.
Carbon fiber components and fuel-efficient technology also mean the cost per passenger should be up to 20 percent less than on a 747, raising the possibility of cheaper tickets, Airbus said.
CNN's Richard Quest contributed to this report.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
