Qatar Airways gets its first A380 superjumbo

Qatar Airways has taken delivery of its first double decker Airbus A380 after a delay of several months.

The 517-seat plane is the first of 10 the airline has on order.

Doha-based Qatar had planned to start services in May but a dispute, reportedly over the finish to the plane's interior doors, caused the delay.

At a handover ceremony overnight, the airline's chief executive Akbar Al Baker is reported to have tried to smooth over the problems with the work, saying Airbus was not to blame and the delay was due to Qatar Airways' "commitment to quality."

The A380, which has a list price of US$414 million has been bought by 12 airlines, with Emirates the biggest customer.

Qatar will use the A380 on London and Paris routes from next month.

"By introducing the A380 to our ever expanding fleet, it will strengthen Doha's position as a key regional and global aviation hub," Al Baker said.

There are 461 economy seats, 48 in business and eight in first class, featuring the what the airline says are the widest first-class seats in the industry. The aircraft has two full-length passenger decks with first and business class cabins both on the upper deck, and as with Emirates A380s, a special lounge area for premium passengers.

Gulf carriers are rapidly expanding, adding dozens more of the super-jumbos and adding more features to their first class cabins.

Airbus says that with 318 orders so far by 19 customers the A380 had 90 per cent of the very large aircraft market.

There are now 142 A380s in service, having accumulated over 1.5 million flight hours on some 180,000 commercial flights.

Since entering service with Singapore Airlines in 2007, more than 65 million passengers have flown on the A380.

Qatar is the launch customer for the smaller Airbus A350XWB and is due to take delivery of it by the end of the year.