MASSIVE AIRBUS A380 ARRIVES IN LOS ANGELES
 LOS ANGELES – 03/19/07 – The world’s largest passenger aircraft – the four-engine Airbus A380 – made its maiden arrival at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) yesterday morning.
Sporting the colorful livery of Australia’s Qantas, the huge airplane touched down at LAX just about 15 minutes after a sister aircraft, flying for German carrier Lufthansa, landed at New York’s Kennedy International Airport.
The plane’s statistics are staggering. The double-decker airplane is 239 feet in length, boasts a wingspan equal to the length of a football field, with a tail that rises some 80 feet off the ground.
The 525-ton A380 can seat as many as 550 passengers, hold 81,890 gallons of fuel, cruise at 560 mph and fly some 8,000 nautical miles.
EADS Airbus – the European Union-based consortium that designed and built the aircraft – hopes the A380, which is designed to carry more people farther than any plane in history, will dominate air travel for the next two decades.
For Airbus, which has been beset by management and financial problems including a two-year delay to the A380 that wiped out more than $6.61 billion in profit forecasts, the flight is a chance to prove that the plane will be ready when the first deliveries are made in October to Singapore Airlines.
Airbus has 166 orders from 15 airlines for the new plane, which already has made tests flights in Europe and to Asia.
The Los Angeles airport, the fifth-busiest worldwide, is expected to be the first US destination for the A380 when it enters commercial service.
The inaugural Los Angeles flight was devoid of passengers and crew, save for those in the cockpit.
EADS Airbus said the plane will undergo tests at LAX, including airfield maneuvers, docking at the terminal gate, and ground and gate handling exercises.
Los Angeles World Airports, which administers operations at LAX, ultimately plans to spend about $121 million to prepare for the A380, and already has reportedly earmarked more than $50 million to improve runway and taxiway intersections to accommodate the new aircraft.
Go
back, or read the latest Page Two stories:
DISNEY TO LAUNCH TV CHANNEL IN RUSSIA
BURBANK – 12/31/08 – The Walt Disney Company has said it will team-up with Media-One Holdings Ltd. to launch a Disney-branded television channel in Russia in 2009; Disney will have a 49% stake in the venture in exchange for a cash investment and content acquisition, according to a recent piece in the Los Angeles Business Journal.
GOLDEN SPOON ENTERS THE GLOBAL MARKET
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – 12/12/08 – Frozen yogurt giant Golden Spoon has accelerated its international expansion with the announcement of two additional stores for Japan; the new stores will be located within Tokyo Station and the Kansai International Airport and are slated to open for business this month.
PORT OF STOCKTON EXPANDS ITS FTZ
STOCKTON – 12/05/08 – The Port of Stockton has received approval from the US Dept. of Commerce (DOC) Foreign Trade Zones Board for expansion of its Foreign Trade Zone No. 231; the expansion at the nearly 475-acre Opus West Park in East Stockton is the eighth site approved in Stockton by the DOC and is sited adjacent to the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad line linking Central California with points throughout the country.
NETSUITE GOES LIVE IN SINGAPORE
SAN MATEO – 10/28/08 – Business management software developer NetSuite Inc. has launched a new venture - NetSuite OneWorld in Singapore; the move was spurred by forecasts that that Asia-Pacific software as a service (SaaS) revenues will grow from $274 million in 2007 to around $1.8 billion by 2011.
CHINA’S TASTE FOR CAL WINE GROWS
SONOMA – 08/09/08 – California-based vintner Bronco Wine has forged a deal with Legacy Wine and Spirits International to export a selection of its varietal Hacienda label wines to China; the first container of 750ml bottles of Bronco’s Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Viognier, White Zinfandel and Brut Sparkling Wine reportedly left the Port of Oakland last week.
SANDISK REJECTS SAMSUNG ACQUISITION BID
MILPITAS – 09/24/08 – US flash memory maker SanDisk Corp. has reportedly rejected a $5.9 billion bid by top memory chip-maker, Samsung Electronics Co., but said it would not rule out a deal at a better price; SanDisk said in a statement that Samsung's $26-a-share cash offer undervalued the company, but it remained open to a deal with Samsung at a price that recognizes its "intrinsic value."
Â
|
Tuesday, January 06, 2009 
![](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=h8BN5KCpRYw&offerid=20386.10000001&type=4&subid=0"><IMG width="120" height="60" alt="blue box" border="0" src="http://www.site59.com/global/images/affiliate/120_60(bl)_01.gif"></a><IMG border="0" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=h8BN5KCpRYw&bids=20386.10000001&type=4&subid=0">){kind=link}