Airbus’ massive A380 aircraft successfully completed its first test-flight on Wednesday (April 27), despite a transatlantic dispute over subsidies to the company.
The 421 tonne superjumbo took off at 10:29 CET from Blagnac International Airport in Toulouse, France, and landed back at the same spot at 14:23.
“The behaviour of the aircraft both before and after take-off was completely normal,” chief test pilot Jacques Rosay told ground staff while cruising at 10,000 feet over southwest France, just north of the Pyrenees.
Airbus has already scooped up over 150 orders for the new model jet, with Emirates airlines taking the lion’s share of 43 aircraft.
China Southern airlines also snapped up five planes on April 21, following the French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin’s, meeting with the Chinese leader, Wen Jiabao, the same day.
The Toulouse-based company has a turnover of some 20 billion euro annually and employs 53,000 people at 16 sites in France, Germany, Spain and the UK.
The Dutch firm, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) owns 80 per cent of Airbus, with the rest held by the UK’s BAE systems.
![[Interview] ‘Some of the resistance comes from people fearing they’ll end up without a job,’ says industry expert on Europe’s slow electrification](https://static.euobserver.com/2026/07/anja-van-de-gronde-PY7r5dJ_v-Y-unsplash-2400x1602.jpg)
Andrew Rettman