All jetliners might look alike to anyone who thinks that an airplane is an airplane is an airplane. And, yes, to the casual observer there is great similarity between Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s, and much in common between A330s and 777s. Even the mighty new A380, with its low, swept wings and four underslung engines, follows established trends apart from a full-length upper deck–and that also has been tried before.
But look under the skin and Airbus will quickly point out many unique features for which the European manufacturer has filed patent applications. During development of the quad-aisle quadjet, Airbus made more than (appropriately enough) 380 such filings, all related to technological developments for use on the A380. Since the program was launched nearly seven years ago in December 2000, Airbus says it has put the new technologies through rigorous testing.
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