Superjumbo jet may be too big for its own good

— -- Jason Speer plans to be part of history on Thursday in Singapore when he and about 470 other travelers board the first-ever commercial flight of the new Airbus A380.

But the 32-year-old Chicago-area manufacturing executive and aviation enthusiast is likely to remain for many years among a relatively small group of Americans to experience travel aboard the massive double-decker A380.

No U.S. carrier has ordered one, and the rollout of the superjumbo worldwide promises to be slow. Only 13 of the planes are scheduled to be built in 2008. Another 25 are scheduled in 2009. After trying to sell the plane for seven years, Airbus, its European manufacturer, has only 189 orders.

"There's about a dozen cities in the world that can truly accommodate this big of an airplane," says Richard Aboulafia, aviation manufacturing analyst at The Teal Group in Fairfax, Va. "London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney — cities like those. You probably won't even see this plane in Chicago, at least not regularly, or any time soon."

When Singapore Airlines operates that first A380 flight from Singapore to Sydney, the superjumbo jet will replace Boeing's venerable 747 as the world's largest jetliner, a title the bump-nosed Boeing has held for 37 years.

How and where the new superjumbo is deployed beyond its Singapore-Sydney service remains unclear. Singapore Airlines expects its second A380 in January, and six others by early 2009.

But, mainly for competitive reasons, the airline won't be nailed down on specific route plans except to say A380 could begin flying between San Francisco and Hong Kong in late 2008 or early 2009. And Singapore-London service in early 2008 is a possibility.

Qantas, the Australian carrier that'll be the second carrier to operate the A380, also says it plans eventually to fly it to the USA, as does Germany's Lufthansa, the third carrier to get the plane. Neither will say when or where.

Fast-growing Dubai-based Emirates Air, which has the largest pending order for A380s, also expects to eventually fly the big airplane on routes between the Middle East and the USA. Emirates has 47 firm orders.