First Airbus Superjumbo A380 delivered to Singapore Airlines, better late than never

Sure it's two years late, but that does not take away from the excitement as the first Airbus A380 Superjumbo plane was delivered today. The first company to get the revolutionary plane is Singapore Airlines, which is now the proud owner of the world's largest passenger plane.

It was definitely a rocky road for Airbus maker European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (LSE: EAD). Delays on this project have taken their toll on the company in terms of personnel, profits and reputation. On the road to today's product handover, Airbus has torn through 5 CEOs, billions of dollars in extra costs, and a restructuring plan that will likely result in the loss of around 10,000 jobs. As if that's not bad enough, the company is also dealing with the fact that Boeing (NYSE: BA) was able to take its #1 sale spot in 2006.

While it is great to see the new A380 being delivered, it would be foolish to think that this marks of the end of hard times for the company. There is still an ongoing investigation in Airbus' parent company EADS over "massive insider trading" that the French Financial Markets Authority has claimed to uncover in its preliminary investigation into trading allegations against the company's senior managers.