The world's largest passenger jet, the Airbus A380, is embarking on a visit to the Asia-Pacific region as part of a series of demonstration tours that will take place during the year. The Asia-Pacific tour will take the A380 development aircraft MSN7 to Narita (Japan) from June 4-6, then to Sydney (Australia) from June 6-8 and finally to Taipei (Taiwan) from June 8-10, after having made a series of airport compatibility trials at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport between June 1-3 jointly with Air France and Aeroports de Paris.

Recently, the A380 successfully completed its first tour to India, visiting New Delhi from May 6-8 and Mumbai, the headquarters of its first Indian customer, Kingfisher Airlines, from May 9-10. Further tours will take the aircraft to North America, the Middle East, China and a second trip to the Asia-Pacific region.

The demonstration tours undertaken with MSN7 are part of the extensive campaign to prepare the A380 for a smooth entry into service. Operating under typical airline conditions, the aircraft will undergo airport compatibility checks, ground handling and maintenance procedures tests and demonstrate its compatibility with airports, confirming its readiness to enter service. The A380 has already visited more than 45 airports and by 2011, more than 70 airports will be ready for A380 operations.

In parallel, Airbus is progressing well with the first customer A380s. The painting of the first A380, for Singapore Airlines, was completed on May 2 in Hamburg following completion of cabin installation. It will be delivered to the airline in October. The subsequent aircraft, for delivery to Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airlines and Qantas, are also well on track.

Being cleaner, greener, quieter and smarter, the A380 is setting new benchmarks for transport and the environment. Per passenger, the A380 is as fuel efficient as a small economical family car. It is also a good neighbour, being the quietest large airliner flying today or for the foreseeable future. Requiring shorter runways for take off and landing, the A380 also provides vital extra passenger capacity without increasing the number of flights and is an ideal solution to today's congested airports.

The A380 has larger more comfortable seats in all classes and it also gives airlines flexibility to install lower density seating without reducing the number of seats. Based on the latest market trends for larger premium class products, it can typically carry 525 passengers in three classes in unprecedented comfort.