Newsday.com: A380 Set for Maiden Flight Before 50,000

Newsday.com: A380 Set for Maiden Flight Before 50,000: "The A380, with a catalogue price of $282 million, represents a huge bet that international airlines will need bigger aircraft to transport passengers between ever-busier hub airports. But some analysts say signs of a boom in the market for smaller wide-body planes, such as Boeing's long-range 787 'Dreamliner,' show that Airbus was wrong to focus so much time and money on its superjumbo.

'If the A380 costs Airbus the mid-market then it's the biggest misinvestment in aerospace history since Concorde,' said Richard Aboulafia of the U.S. consultancy Teal Group. 'The way the market's changing makes this look more like a science fair project every day.' "