The Airbus A380 was developed by the Airbus consortium between the early 1990 and 2007 (delivery): "Airbus started the development of a very large airliner (termed Megaliner by Airbus in the early development stages) in the early 1990s, both to complete its own range of products and to break the dominance that Boeing had enjoyed in this market segment since the early 1970s with its 747." "In January 1993, Boeing and several companies in the Airbus consortium started a joint feasibility study of an aircraft known as the Very Large Commercial Transport (VLCT), aiming to form a partnership to share the limited market." "In June 1994, Airbus began developing its own very large airliner, designated the A3XX. Airbus considered several designs, including an odd side-by-side combination of two fuselages from the A340, which was Airbus’s largest jet at the time." "From 1997 to 2000, as the East Asian financial crisis darkened the market outlook, Airbus refined its design, targeting a 15 to 20 percent reduction in operating costs over the existing Boeing 747-400. The A3XX design converged on a double-decker layout that provided more passenger volume than a traditional single-deck design." "On 19 December 2000, the supervisory board of newly restructured Airbus voted to launch a €8.8 billion program to build the A3XX, re-christened as the A380, with 55 orders from six launch customers." "Five A380s were built for testing and demonstration purposes. The first prototype, serial number MSN001 and registration F-WWOW, was unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse on 18 January 2005. Its maiden flight took place at 8:29 UTC (10:29 a.m. local time) 27 April 2005." "Airbus obtained type certificate for the A380-841 from the EASA and FAA on 12 December 2006 in a joint ceremony at the company's French headquarters. The A380-861 type certificate is planned for 12 December 2007. As of October 2007, ten A380s had flown, and the five A380s in the test programme had logged over 4,565 hours during 1,364 flights, including route proving and demonstration flights around the world." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380 Further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus#Civilian_products