世界经理人-商业报道[biz.icxo.com]消息：3月19日，一架空客A380飞机在美国纽约肯尼迪国际机场降落。当日，作为空中客车与德国汉莎航空公司联合举办的商业验证飞行的一部分，一架载有500名特约嘉宾的空客A380飞机从德国法兰克福出发，飞抵美国东海岸的纽约。这是该型号客机首次飞抵美国......For all its troubles, the double-decker superjumbo Airbus A380 is enjoying a star turn in the aviation world spotlight.
The largest passenger plane in the world began its United States tour this week, arriving yesterday at Kennedy International Airport. After touching down gently, the pilot opened a cockpit window to wave an American flag to a crowd of reporters and photographers, including those aboard three helicopters hovering nearby.
Tomorrow, the plane will take a celebratory “flight to nowhere” and circle over Manhattan. Stops are also planned at Dulles International outside Washington and O’Hare in Chicago. On the West Coast, another A380 flew into Los Angeles International Airport yesterday morning, where it was greeted by the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio R. Villaraigosa.
The plane can clearly generate excitement and buzz in the United States.
“When you see it fly, even hardened airplane hands stop and look,” said Edmund S. Greenslet, publisher of Airline Monitor, a trade publication. “It will be noticed. It is dramatic. To see it is to be impressed at its sheer magnitude.”
But turning buzz into actual sales in the United States is another matter. So far, no American carrier has bought the plane and many experts anticipate that none will anytime soon.
The financial problems of some carriers prohibit them from affording the $300 million craft. But, even more, American carriers say they have no need for a plane so big — preferring instead smaller planes that can carry 200 to 300 passengers for more frequent nonstop service between more cities.
American Airlines, for example, has not purchased any A380s. Tim Wagner, a spokesman, said that American was instead using the Boeing 777, which carries 250 to 350 passengers, on such long-haul flights as Chicago to New Delhi or Dallas to Tokyo. If demand on these routes increases, American would rather offer more flights than use bigger planes, he added.
