World’s biggest passenger plane

Apr 29, 2005

Airbus 380 (A-380) is now the biggest passenger aeroplane in the world. It was flown for the first time on Wednesday morning from the Toulouse international Airport in France.

By Raphael Okello

Airbus 380 (A-380) is now the biggest passenger aeroplane in the world. It was flown for the first time on Wednesday morning from the Toulouse international Airport in France.

A-380 can carry more than 800 passengers. Previously the biggest aeroplane was the Boeing 747, which carries 400 people. Airbus is a French company that makes aeroplanes while Boeing is an American company that also makes aeroplanes.

On Wednesday, many people gathered near Toulouse airport and many others around the world watched on television as A-380 flew for the first time. Only two pilots and four engineers were inside the aeroplane. Before a new aeroplane is allowed to carry passengers, it must be tested to make sure it will be safe for people.

The A-380 will be tested for four months. It will start transporting people in 2006. But even before we have reached 2006, many airline companies around the world have already ordered for 154 A-380 aeroplanes each of which costs 285 million dollars.

It has taken 11 years to build Airbus 380. In total, $13b (billion dollars) was spent on it. This aeroplane is so big. It is about 79 meters long, which is more than half a football field and 26 metres high. Each of the wings is about 40 metres long. About 70 cars can be parked in only one wing of the aeroplane.

It has a two-storied deck. So passengers can choose to either sit up or down.

Uganda’s Entebbe Airport is too small for it to land. Even some of the world’s biggest airports like Heathrow in England are creating more space to enable this aeroplane land.

The aeroplane has got beds, a gymnasium, where passengers can work out during flights, showers, a bar and casinos where people go to play money games.

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