The European Airbus consortium unveiled its new super-sized airliner of the future January 18 designed in large part with the Asian market in mind and combined it with further indication that China will be offered a production and financial stake in the aircraft.

The mammoth 550-passenger A380 Airbus is designed to maintained the European combine's new competitive advantage over rival American Boeing well into a new generation of airliners and passengers. Billed as "The world's largest, most advanced and efficient commercial airliner" the double-decked plane and its three-story air freighter version are expected to enter into service in 2006. Another version of the A380 would be capable of carrying up to 750 passengers.

At ceremonies near Toulouse and attended by the four heads of state or government of the main partners -Britain, France, Germany and Spain - the first A380 was presented to the public. Some 4000-5000 persons including a large number of employees of the Airbus and its European Aerospace and Defence System (EADS) parent company attended the inaugural.

Underlining its objectives to become an important vehicle of transport to and from Asia is the fact that of the nearly 50 major world airports have takeoff and landing strips capable of handling the new airliners, 20 are in Asia, 10 each in Europe and the US, four in Australia and three in the Middle East. The concept of the A380 is to provide direct flight service to major hubs whereas its rival, the Boeing 747.

To date, the firm had received some 149 orders for the A380, the largest of 43 from the United Emirates, 15 from Lufthansa, 12 from Australia's Qantas, several orders of 10 from Singapore, France, Federal Express and the American leasing firm ILFC, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea and Virgin have ordered 5 or 6. The first 14 clients were also represented at the inaugural festivities.

Sales projections for the aircraft are to reach 250 within some three years, with a major order expected sometime during 2005 from China in anticipation of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Singapore Airlines is seen as being the first to use some of the aircraft in its freight versions, which also required special low-noise adaptation. In the coming 20 years, targets are for some 750 A380 to be ordered out of a total world market of some 1535. Some projections more favourable to Boeing project the market for such giant aircraft at around 400, with future orders being concentrated on middle-sized aircraft such as its 7E7 Dreamliner capable of flying point-to-point between smaller airports.

The project is a major industrial undertaking costing more than €10 billion, a sum comparable to the undersea Channel Tunnel and involving production in various site in the four major partner countries and others with the final assembly in Toulouse. Some 6000 technicians were involved in the development of the aircraft over five years. In addition to the complex construction cooperation effort, the new aircraft involve innovative technologies.

Underlining the symbolic European nature of this industrial project, French President Jacques Chirac, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero attended the launch, which took place a few months before the national referendum on the proposed European Constitution in France and other countries. It also occurred in the midst of European discussions on industrial competitiveness which Chirac indicated could be assisted by the Constitution and such projects.

But also underscoring the highly-competitive cutthroat rivalry between Airbus and Boeing were the back-to-back announcements a few days later by the two firms of symbolic orders from China.

China's purchases totalled more than US$11 billion and highlighted the importance of the Chinese aviation market for the two rivals. First flag carrier Air China agreed to a long-expected deal to buy 20 A330-200 aircraft from Airbus worth US$2.86 billion, prompting French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien to call it a ``political victory.'' But just afterwards, Boeing retorted with its own multibillion-dollar deal to sell its new 787 Dreamliner to six Chinese airlines and signed a preliminary agreement with Chinese officials for 60 aircraft worth US$7.2 billion. Then shortly after on February 4 another massive order from Japan Airlines rebuffed a bid by Airbus to break the monopoly Boeing has enjoyed for its orders by placing an order for 30 737s with an option for 10 more to replace part of its older fleet for an undisclosed amount.