Airbus, which has delivered more airplanes than Boeing for the second year in a row, is about to unveil another No. 1: the world's largest passenger jet. The A380, a four-aisle, four-engine, double-decker "superjumbo," will roll onto the tarmac Tuesday at Airbus headquarters in southern France, in a lavish ceremony attended by EU leaders and thousands of guests. Sales have beat expectations so far, and most of the technical problems that have dogged the program have been resolved, at a price. But the real sighs of relief won't be heard in Toulouse until later _ sometime before March 31, Airbus says _ when the A380 hauls its 280-metric ton (308-ton) frame aloft. That's when the plane's engineers will begin to find out whether their gargantuan offspring lives up to the performance promises, as the first test-flight data streams in. In a standard three-class cabin configuration, the A380 will carry 555 passengers _ one-third more than the plane it is designed to displace, the Boeing 747. On a full tank, it will also carry them 5 percent further than Boeing's longest-range jumbo, Airbus claims, producing costs per passenger that are up to one-fifth below its rival's. --more 1444 Local Time 1144 GMT
