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The Airbus A380, which is the largest passenger plane in the world, landed safely after taking off on its first flight earlier today from Toulouse, France.

The flight took about 4 hours.

"A new page in aviation history has been written," France's president, Jacques Chirac. "It is a magnificent result of European industrial cooperation."

According to an article from This Is London,

The 240ft long, 80ft tall and 260ft wingspan plane flew at an altitude of between 10,000ft and 14,000ft for the test flight. It made a large loop heading north west towards the Atlantic before turning south and flying over the northern Pyranees.

A series of airborne tests were carried out on the handling of the plane's engines, hydraulics and electrics.

The A380 has been made quieter than past Airbus models on requests from customers to do so.

The A380 will only fly into 25 airports at first, but that number will grow over the next 20 years.

Airbus has received orders for 154 of the planes so far. No American carriers have ordered any.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.