The curtain has been raised on the first fully assembled Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet to an audience of thousands in the company’s plant in the US.

The Airbus superjumbo programme suffered a major new setback today as air freight company UPS said it would cancel its order for 10 A380s, leaving the aircraft maker with an empty order book for the cargo version of its much-delayed flagship.

Airbus unions in Europe today ordered a strike to protest against planned job cuts, including 1,600 in the UK, as shares of parent company EADS tumbled on the announcement that work on the A380’s slow-selling freighter version had halted

Airbus parent company EADS today announced the resignation of the European plane maker’s chief executive, Christian Streiff, and named one of its own co-CEOs to replace him.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG supervisory board is currently examining whether it will approve plans already approved by the management board to buy 15 Airbus A380s.