Blair proud of British contribution to Airbus A380
The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, today expressed his pride in the British contribution, and the “unprecedented” level of European co-operation that went into developing the new Airbus A380.
Speaking at the ceremony to unveil the new aircraft, which will carry about 555 passengers, Mr Blair outlined the billions of pounds of economic benefits it is expected the new aircraft will bring to the EU.
Mr Blair said “it will change the way we travel”, not least in terms of the environmental cost of travel. Mr Blair said that it was the first commercial plane that was designed from the outset to minimise the environmental damage it would do: it uses 30 per cent less fuel than standard air travel.
The Prime Minister praised the workforce in the UK, Spain, Germany, France that worked for years to bring the project to fruition. He said that the successful launch of the A380 proved that “modern manufacturing is alive and well in Britain and in Europe”.
And added: “This is a day of which we can truly be proud”.
In order for the A380 project to break even, it needs sales of 250, which Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard expects it to exceed.
Mr Forgeard said: “We’ll sell a lot more than 250. We’ll sell 700 or 750. You know it is a plane which will fly for 30 or 40 years.”
The company has already secured 149 orders for the A380, and is also in talks to sell the aircraft to China.
The A380’s test flight will take place in April.
