Airbus A380 gets U.S. and European type certification

It's official. The world's largest airliner, the new A380 suberjumbo aircraft developed by Airbus, has been type certified by both the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

The two agencies formally announced their approval in a ceremony at the Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France. From a Reuters article on Airwise.com:

Airbus has sold a total of 149 A380s after deducting the 10 originally ordered by FedEx.

The aircraft was conceived as the A3XX in 1997 and the project was formally launched as the A380 in December 2000.

Industry sources say it cost an estimated EUR12 billion (USD$15.9 billion) to develop.

As of now, the first A380 is scheduled for delivery in late 2007.

Source: Airbus A380 Gets Type Certification - Airwise.com

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