Airbus A380 takes off on maiden flight
Toulouse: The Airbus A380 has completed its maiden flight, becoming the world's largest commercial passenger plane to successfully take to the skies.

Nearly 50,000 people had gathered in the French town to watch the world's largest passenger plane, and perhaps the most technologically advanced one, take off on a four-hour maiden flight from an airfield in Toulouse in Southern France.

The huge double-decker aircraft is designed to carry up to 840 passengers and can fly 15,000 kms non-stop.

It had been billed as the most eagerly awaited debut by an airliner since the both the 747 and the supersonic Concorde first flew in 1969.

The four-aisle, four engine aircraft has an 80-metre wing span and a tail as tall as a seven-storey building. The A380 now replaces the American Boeing 747 as the biggest airliner to fly. More test flights are scheduled in the months to come

The first passenger operations of the superjumbo are scheduled to begin in 2006 when the first A-380 is expected to enter service for Singapore Airlines.
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