Photos: Airbus A380 lands in the U.S.

Monday's flights were meant in part to test the readiness of U.S. airfields to handle the supersize double-decker. The other part, of course, is Europe's Airbus serving notice to U.S.-based archrival Boeing--whose next-generation 747 is in the works--that it means business. Airbus has spent more than $10 billion developing the A380, which has a list price of about $319 million, according to the Reuters news agency. So far it has 156 orders from 14 customers, but none from a U.S. airline. It is due to go into service with Singapore Airlines in October.

The Airbus 380 enjoys the New York skyline.