Is The A380 Too Fat To Fly?

And you thought couch-potatoes in America were overweight. Well, they are... but it turns out they may have something in common with the Airbus A380.

ABC News quotes industry experts who say the big delays Airbus announced last year in deliveries of the super-jumbos to its launch customers were centered on the plane's weight -- far in excess of the company's one-million pound goal. Not only would that create big problems at the few airports where the A380 can operate -- runways might buckle under that kind of weight -- but carriers wouldn't get as much mileage out of the aircraft.

Fuel costs , of course, would go up as well -- not what engineers or the airlines want to hear right now.

"You've got to get it right," said industry analyst Chris Partridge. "You get it to the customers as promised. And if you fail in doing that, then people will vote against you with their feet and their checkbooks. And they will buy elsewhere."

Airbus has already compensated A380 launch customers -- including Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Emirates -- for missed delivery times.

To date, the A380 has passed 500 hours in flight tests at the Airbus plant in Toulouse, France. More testing (exercise?) is expected before the first A380 is delivered to customers.

If passengers who are too fat to fly have to buy two seats... does this mean A380 operators will have to buy two gates?

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.weightwatchers.com