The super-jumbo on the streets of rural France It is, a huge whale of a thing, painted in dull green primer, looming over the town. People watch from balconies but still have to crane their necks upward as the behemoth passes by. First the nose, then the centre section, then the rear, and finally the wings, built in different parts of Europe, shrink-wrapped in plastic and shipped to the port of Paulliac on the estuary of the Garonne. Then by barge to Langon, and from there to Toulouse by road, via little Levignac. The aircraft proceeding at walking pace tonight, serial number MSN 121, is of particular significance from a British point of view, one of 12 ordered by British Airways. The national flag carrier has waited some time before opting for the double-decker A380 as a replacement for some of its Boeing 747s on long-haul routes. Hardly surprising, given that the list price of an A380 is £240 million. Operations will begin next year, possibly with Hong Kong as the first long-distance destination. "Now is the right time to purchase," says James Lewis, one of the BA managers overseeing the A380"s introduction into service. We first started looking at fleet expansion and replacement in 2006. The benefit of getting the aircraft later than some other airlines is that little problems have been ironed out. The super-jumbo is the consummation of a European dream: to take on America's Boeing and beat it at its own game. Airbus has 'bet the farm" on developing the A380 as the natural successor to the venerable 747, a design now more than 40 years old but still the mainstay of long-haul volume air travel. The European manufacturer, with factories in France, Germany, Britain and Spain, believes people will continue to fly between major hub airports, and the only way to accommodate ever-growing demand, particularly in emerging economies, is to build bigger aeroplanes. Boeing rejects this model, insisting that more and more passengers will in future fly 'point-to-point," avoiding congested hubs in favour of quieter regional airports. It continues to market a newly-updated version of the 747 but sales have so far been disappointing. The Seattle-based giant is concentrating instead on its successful twin-jet mini-jumbo, the 777, and the new medium-sized, long-range, fuel-efficient 787. There is nothing in civilian passenger aviation to rival the A380 in size, either now or for the foreseeable future. The aircraft weighs in at 575 tonnes, compared to the 400-tonne 747, and can carry more than 800 passengers theoretically, although very few airlines opt for this 'sardine" configuration, some 500 seats being the norm. Industry wisdom has it that economy covers running costs while First and Business Class make the profit, so BA will want to use the A380"s generous cabin space to create an especially attractive environment for high-end travellers. "The noise, the space, the light, the humidity, these are what people notice on the A380," says James Basnett, the first BA pilot to train on the type. The cabin is about half as noisy as that of a 747 and there is more humidity in the atmosphere, the aircraft interior being pressurised to the equivalent of 6,000 feet above sea level rather than the 8,000 feet normal on most airliners. This makes travelling on the A380 a much more enjoyable experience. BA is the world's biggest operator of the 747, with some 50 in service, and more orders for the A380 could follow, although the airline is also investing heavily in the 787. Both new aircraft rely on composite materials to replace metal and save weight, thus increasing fuel efficiency, the holy grail of modern airlines. The A380 contains 25 per cent composites, making it, Airbus claims, 20 per cent more fuel efficient per seat than the 747. The BA buy, though welcome for Airbus, is a nip to the corner shop compared with the 90 A380s ordered by Emirates. The Dubai-based carrier accounts for more than a third of all firm A380 orders, making it the type's critical launch customer. The vast hall in which the various parts of the aircraft (fuselage and tailfin from Germany and France, horizontal tail from Spain, wings from the UK) are put together is billed as the largest industrial facility in Europe. The current production rate of A380s is 2.5 per month but Airbus hopes to ramp that up to four. "Airbus bet the farm to build this thing and it could be many years, if ever, before it turns a real profit," says David Kaminski-Morrow, of the aviation website Flight Global. It was a huge gamble and while Airbus now enjoys the prestige of producing a true high-capacity airliner, at last matching the Boeing range, it is unclear how far into the future the break-even point lies. There is no doubting the overall success of Airbus Industrie, however. The company has sold more than 12,000 aircraft since its inception and, together with Boeing, bestrides the world airliner market. BAE was until 2006 a 20 per cent shareholder in the plane-maker until some bright spark decided to sell up and use the money to buy defence companies in the United States. Now, with defence sales in America plummeting, BAE is struggling to remain as an independent player in aerospace. Still, the Airbus wing-making operation based jointly at Broughton near Chester and Filton near Bristol, could not be easily transferred to the Continent, so specialised is its work. Rolls Royce also benefits greatly from the A380. Its Trent 900 turbofan has been chosen by the majority of A380 customers, although America's Engine Alliance (a combination of General Electric and Pratt and Whitney) has sold more examples of its GP7200 engine due its adoption by Emirates. The workers at Toulouse remain busy, as do staff in the plant's Michelin- starred restaurant. The company has a backlog of 4,400 aircraft on its order book, including 180 A380s and the future is bright, a tribute to Franco-German long-termism. In Levignac, the "convoi exceptionnel" has passed and the townspeople head for their beds. Airbus has brought prosperity to this corner of rural France and they are, on the whole, happy to play host to the A380. "At the beginning there were petitions because people thought being on the route of the aeroplane would ruin the town," says M. Kevy. But there have been many benefits - Levignac is more dynamic than it was. People from many countries come to this area to work for Airbus. It is part of the furniture now. Everyone is very happy.