Superjumbo Scheduled To Resume Flights On Friday

The Airbus A380 was nearly two years late in reaching its first customers, due in large part to problems integrating wiring harnesses designed in France and Germany. In an unwelcome irony, Emirates has reportedly taken its first A380 offline to work on an electrical fault.

An airline spokesman said the problem was discovered at the end of a training mission.

The International Herald Tribune reports that the plane -- which entered service August 1, and has been serving the airline's New York route -- is scheduled to be back in service this weekend, but reduced from three flights per week to two to accommodate engineering and training needs.

Since entering commercial service with Singapore Airlines in October 2007, the A380 has been hit with a variety of technical glitches... most of the minor annoyance variety, and common to issues usually found on any new aircraft. Most notably, Singapore was forced to ground two of its first three A380s earlier this year, due to a fuel pump problem endemic to both aircraft.

Airbus announced earlier this month that it will be late in delivering Emirates' second A380, but remains confident it can meet its goal of delivering 12 aircraft to customers this year.

Emirates is using a Boeing 777-300ER temporarily to serve its New York-to-Dubai route.

FMI: www.emirates.com/usa, www.airbus.com