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Airbus attempted a green-friendly makeover of its A380 superjumbo on Tuesday, saying the world's largest airliner could save the planet.Rapidly growing pressure to deliver cleaner planes is one of the main talking points at the Paris air show, as the industry hears public calls to tackle greenhouse emissions even while arguing jet travel is far from the worst offender.
Pressure came to a head at a meeting of global airlines lobby IATA earlier this month, when executives recognized they were losing the PR battle and set a challenge to jetmakers to go green.Airbus's top executives began referring to the A380 as a "gentle giant" on the eve of the world's largest air show this week and issued a brochure describing the benefits to the environment of the quiet and efficient 555-seat plane.
But the company's sales chief John Leahy went a step further, heading one section of a presentation: "Saving the planet, one A380 at a time."Airbus says the A380 can fly more passengers further and more fuel-efficiently than any previous jet, resulting in lower carbon dioxide emissions per passenger.Airbus marketers have previously coined a long list of superlatives for the A380 which staged its inaugural flight in 2005, but have never before so clearly stated its green ambitions.Leahy, an American credited for propelling Airbus into top spot against Boeing before it hit problems last year, is renowned for his fluent sales patter but even he has not so far been able to repair the A380's problems.The programme is running two years late after difficulties blamed indirectly on Franco-German tensions in Airbus and will not reach its first customer Singapore Airlines until December....
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