A Day That Shook The World: Largest passenger aircraft in history takes off
On 27 April 2005, the Airbus A380, biggest and heaviest passenger aircraft ever built took its maiden flight from Toulouse Airport.
The A380 is huge: it weighs 440t, is 73m long and has a wingspan of 80m - and it has twice the floorspace and capacity of an ordinary jumbo jet.
However, to accomodate the craft, runways may need to be redesigned, and critics have called a beast of this size inflexible.
Watch original British Pathe footage from the A380's maiden voyage above.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies