Size matters

Visitors to Hong Kong's first civil aerospace show queued yesterday for a sight of the next big thing in aviation - the giant Airbus A380, the first of which, after months of delay, is about to make its commercial debut with Singapore Airlines. Most things about the new jet are big: it has two decks running the full length of the plane, offering room for up to 840 passengers - or 525 in a standard, three-class set-up, with room for a bar (below, far left) - bigger seats (main picture), bigger luggage bins and more headroom than its nearest rival, the Boeing 747. Its four massive Rolls-Royce engines (left, below) will have to lift a maximum weight of 560 tonnes but will use a sixth less fuel per passenger than a 747, says the European consortium behind the Airbus project.