A irbus, the European plane maker, recently unveiled the Airbus A380, a superjumbo jet designed to transform the way people fly. The plane is a technological masterwork. It is the world's largest commercial jet, and accommodating it will be no small task for airports around the world. The decision to build the A380 is a bet on how people will travel in the future. If the bet is correct, Airbus will be well-positioned to dominate the global aircraft industry in the 21st century, besting Boeing, its perennial rival.

The A380 is a double-decker, four-aisle airplane, capable of carrying up to 800 passengers. (Some say its interior can be configured to accommodate 1,000 people.) Its wingspan stretches 87 meters and its tail is as tall as a seven-story building. The fans in its Rolls Royce engines are 295 cm in diameter and deliver 80,000 pounds of thrust. The plane can fly up to 15,000 km, and its designers promise a 15 percent reduction in operating costs per seat. The first plane is scheduled to enter service in June 2006 as part of Singapore Airlines' fleet for the Singapore-Los Angeles and London-Sydney routes.

The A380 took 10 years and $13 billion to develop, $2 billion over-budget. Each plane will cost $280 million, although discounting on sales is a regular part of business in the $55 billion aircraft industry. Airbus already has 149 orders, from 14 carriers. It says it needs 100 more to break even and an additional 500 before it can return the 20 percent return on investment it promised.