Hamburg - European aircraft manufacturer Airbus delivered the first A380 from its Hamburg plant Monday, handing over the superjumbo jet to Dubai's Emirates airline at a colourful ceremony attended by the chief executives of the two companies and hundreds of staff.

The aircraft is the first of 58 ordered by Emirates, which is to date the largest customer for the flagship of the Airbus fleet.

Emirates chief Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum said the American continent was one of the company's key markets and that the airline was pleased to be the first to enter the US market with the new A380.

The aircraft, which has seats for 489 passengers, is to leave the north German port city Tuesday, before being put to work on the Dubai-New York route from August 1.

Singapore Airlines has the only two A380s thus far in operation. They were delivered from Airbus' main French plant at Toulouse in October and January respectively. These aircraft ply the Singapore- Sydney and Singapore-London routes.

So far Airbus has taken orders for 198 of the double-deck A380s, which have a list price of some 210 million euros (330 million dollars).

The huge aircraft marked its maiden flight on April 27, 2005, but problems with the complex wiring and difficulties between the two main plants - Toulouse and Hamburg - led to a two-year delay in the delivery schedule.

The wiring problem is still slowing the production line, and Airbus chief executive Thomas Enders said the aircraft's problems will only be over once series production is running smoothly at a considerably higher rate than the current one per month.

"The challenge we face is speeding up production," he told the Hamburg daily Hamburger Abendblatt.

Airbus currently aims to deliver 35 of the aircraft by the end of next year.

Neither Singapore nor Emirates has chosen a configuration with anywhere near the maximum number of seats - 853.

Reflecting its Franco-German heritage, Airbus builds the hulls of the two-deck planes in Toulouse, France and paints them and fits the seats in Hamburg, sharing out most of the work equally. The wings are made in Britain. (dpa)