Few aircraft are as capable as the massive Airbus A380, and yet the aircraft is one of the hardest to turn a profit operating. The Airbus A380 is the world’s largest passenger aircraft and the only full-length double-deck aircraft currently in service. A model which was originally proposed under the A3XX study in 1988, Airbus formally launched the jet as part of a $10 billion program on December 19, 2000, with plans that the aircraft would rival the Boeing 747. The first Airbus A380 prototype took to the skies above Toulouse on January 18, 2005, with the maiden flight taking place on April 27, 2005.