The age of the superjumbo is upon us and it landed at Heathrow last week. Those plane-spotters who turned out to see the arrival of the first Singapore Airlines A380 in London on Tuesday may have been adding a very big tick in a must-see box, but they were also witnessing a watershed moment in aviation.

Not so long ago, Concorde was the queen of the skies, fast, sleek and exclusive. This, though, is the era of mass travel and more passengers means, in the opinion of Airbus, its manufacturer, a bigger aircraft.

And the A380 is a monster. It is capable of carrying more than 800 passengers and weighs 540 tonnes at take-off. Each of the four British-built, Rolls-Royce engines is the same diameter as the A320s and Boeing 737s commonly used by airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet. Inside, the A380's twin decks allow it to seat the maximum number of passengers in an all- economy configuration or, using that extra space, will mean the installation of larger seats, beds and even cabins for those willing to pay for them. There are rumours that Emirates will put showers on its superjumbos.

If the launch of the Boeing 747 in 1970 is credited with beginning a “jumbo” era that opened affordable, long-haul travel to consumers in Europe and North America for the first time, then the A380 is expected to do the same on an larger scale, particularly in China and other parts of Asia where the rapidly growing middle classes are developing a taste for air travel. According to Airbus, four out of the top five destinations for the A380 over the next 20 years will be in either the Middle East or the Far East, with Heathrow the only exception.

World air travel is forecast to grow at about 4.9 per cent for the next two decades, but the developed markets of Europe and North America will offer only slight growth. Asia will boom. Domestic Chinese air travel is expected to grow by 8.4 per cent and traffic from other parts of Asia into China will grow at 6.8 per cent.

The A380 will be important for Britain. About 40 per cent of the A380 is built in the UK, with the wings coming from North Wales and the enormous engines made by Rolls-Royce in Derby. The aircraft helps to support 25,000 jobs in Britain.

Moreover, Heathrow is so constrained for space that no new flights can be added. The need for more capacity out of Heathrow is one of the main reasons that British Airways has bought 12 of the £150 million aircraft. Singapore Airlines' existing 747 flights from London operate nearly full and the daily A380 service that began last week will increase its capacity on the route by 25 per cent.

Doug McVitie, a consultant for Arran Aerospace, said: “This will be a very important aircraft for the next 20 years and people are going to get very used to flying on it, particularly if they are heading east from London.”

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