WITH a low rumbling burble, the giant plane eases itself down the runway and, with a minimum of fuss, rises into the air. The Airbus A380, a decade in the making and now the biggest passenger aircraft in the skies, is off on its first commercial flight to London.

It’s not the prettiest. Only its designers could call its bulbous forehead and stubby body things of beauty. It is, however, one of the most important. Its entry into service, albeit two years late and billions of euros over budget, is a significant twist in one of the most enduring rivalries in international business - the battle between Airbus and Boeing.

Since 1969, Boeing has had the market for large aircraft to itself. Airlines wanting a plane capable of carrying more than 350 passengers have had only one choice, the Seattle-made 747, nicknamed the jumbo jet.

It became the ubiquitous symbol of mass international travel, and a big earner for its manufacturer. Executives at Airbus reckoned that in some periods Boeing made $40m (£20m) on every 747 sold, a margin that was used to prop up the sales of its other aircraft. Tackling the 747’s dominance has been a strategic priority for the European planemaker almost since it was set up in the early 1970s. Its leaders believed that Airbus could not compete on an equal footing unless it had a complete family of products, from small short-haul planes right up to jumbos.

The cost and complexity of the large plane was daunting, however. Airbus was until 2001 a loose amalgamation of national aerospace companies, which made the financing and control of the project difficult.

The stakes were so high that Boeing and Airbus decided to bury the hatchet and cooperate on a big plane. As ever, the collaboration began and ended in acrimony and the talks broke down when the two sides could not even agree on what the plane would look like. Having formed itself into a single company under the ownership of EADS, the Franco-German aerospace and defence group, Airbus decided to press ahead on its own.

It planned to spend $12 billion (£6 billion) on the A380, one third of which would come as repayable launch aid from four European governments – those of France, Germany, Britain and Spain. Britain, where Airbus employs 13,000 making wings, put up £530m, to be repaid when and if the A380 makes a profit.

The project has not run smoothly. It is two years behind schedule – Singapore Airlines, for example, should have eight planes by now, rather than three. It is also wildly over budget, thanks in part to a management cockup that led to French and German engineers using different computer design systems. The result was an expensive redesign and refit of the plane’s wiring and extra costs of about €5 billion (£3.9 billion).

Mario Heinen, the Airbus vice-president in charge of the A380 programme, said that 25 aircraft have had to be rewired, and that good progress has been made in the remedial programme. Getting the A380 into service has helped Airbus put some of the bad times behind it.

Singapore Airlines said it was happy with the aircraft and, more importantly, the airline has reported that fuel consumption – the most important contributor to Airbus’s claim that the A380 has operating costs 20% lower than those of the 747 – has been as good as, or even slightly better than, the Airbus forecast.

“We only have worthwhile experience of one route so far [the Sydney service], but it is looking very good,” said a senior Singapore Airlines executive last week.

Airbus also landed a big blow when it secured British Airways as a customer. The UK carrier is regarded as a trendsetter and benchmark in world aviation, and it will take 12 A380s from 2012, with an option to buy seven more.

BA evaluated the A380 against the Boeing 747-8. Robert Boyle, BA’s commercial director, said the A380 won on all three criteria the airline had set – operating economics, environmental impact and customer appeal.

“We never got to a point where we had to choose from a balance of three, because the A380 was ahead on all counts,” he said. BA’s verdict may mean a gloomy future for the 747. While Boeing has made a good fist of selling the freighter version of the 747-8, it has only 20 firm orders for the passenger plane.

Analysts say the American group is unlikely to invest in a new superjumbo anytime soon. It has its hands full with the development of the 787, a new mid-sized jet that has had its own design problems and delays.

Last week Boeing said it had redesigned part of the plane, leading to the third delay in recent months.

Once the 787 is flying, Boeing and Airbus are both expected to invest in new short-haul planes to replace the long-serving and high-selling 737 and A320. The new planes will cost several billion dollars to produce, and the manufacturers may for the first time face competition from other players, with Canada’s Bombardier and Brazil’s Embraer planning to enter at the lower end of the market. China’s nascent aircraft industry may also be a competitor by the time the new planes are launched.

This flurry of activity is likely to leave the A380 undisturbed at the top end of the market. All Airbus needs to do now is to sell enough of the giant planes to recoup its investment. The break-even point was orginally put at 250 aircraft. Analysts estimate that the cost overruns have now increased this figure to about 370. So far, it has firm orders for 192.

LUXURY INSIDE

ON BOARD, the A380 hides its bulk well. You are rarely conscious of the sheer number of fellow passengers – 470 in Singapore Airlines’ configuration – because they are spread across two decks that run the full length of the aircraft, linked by staircases at the front and rear.

Economy-class passengers get a little extra legroom and wider seats, but the biggest bonus is in the extra space to walk around. The airy cabin and lower noise levels than current aircraft also help to make long-haul flights less tiring.

Business-class is luxurious, Singapore Airlines having fitted extra-wide seats that resemble small sofas.

The real opulence, however, is to be found in the “suites” at the front of the bottom deck, where travellers can enjoy the splendid isolation of their own cabin.

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