A380 LE DÉFI 2ND EDITION WITH UPDATE

At the price of a considerable effort, which is a feat but also a gamble, Airbus has built the largest aircraft in the history of commercial aviation, the A380 . A true ocean liner capable of carrying between 555 and 800 passengers and of flying almost 15,000 km at a single glance. It would have made Jules Verne dream... With a range of aircraft now complete, Airbus will be able to continue to compete on an equal footing with Boeing, which for a long time has held the line against all its competitors with the B747, the famous double-deck jumbo jet, the only one of its kind in the long-haul wide-body market for more than 30 years. The young European company is therefore committing its future to this programme, one of the most prestigious in the history of civil aeronautics with the Concorde. It is also one of the riskiest, given the technological and economic challenges involved. The A380 is now in the air. And the 15 airlines that ordered it first are eagerly awaiting it. At the 2005 Paris Air Show at Le Bourget, the public only has eyes for this gigantic Airbus, whose various components are built in Germany, France, Great Britain and Spain, for final assembly in Toulouse and Hamburg. This book tells the story of this magnificent machine, the result of more than fifteen years of reflections and adventures, industrial audacity and economic and financial challenges.