A380 test flight in second half of April

PARIS - The A380, the super-size airliner developed by the European consortium Airbus, will have its first test flight in the second half of April, a company spokeswoman said Monday.
She said the plane would be given to Airbus test pilots this week, adding that acceleration and runway braking tests would be carried out before the aircraft's first flight.
Airbus had initially wanted the flight to take place at the end of March or early April.
Earlier Monday the German business daily Handelsblatt reported that the test flight, scheduled for late March, had been delayed by a few weeks.

04/04/2005 10:29 GMT