Larger planes do have higher running costs and have to have certain numbers of customer to balance the cost, together with its size, only a few airport can afford to run such planes. most likely such planes will be used in international routes, will there be enough customers to fill in?

I defintely think so too, the intention of Airbus380 desginers was to create a commerical-sized plane and offer it at a low price [$240 million per plane, something i could never afford in my life time  ]. They want to retake the airplane market, which is curently dominated by Boeing Airplane company, currently, their 747 is the most popular passenger plane in the world

plane selling is now strongly associated with politics, at least to China, China has bought a lot of airbus planes not because they good but because they are not produced in USA. boeing planes are a little too old and they definitly need to make new models.

The 555-seat A380 passenger aircraft has a range of up to 8,000nm/15,000km, allowing it to fly non-stop between Europe and Asia, while the three-deck long-range freighter version, the A380F, will be able to carry up to 152 tonnes/ 335,000 lbs of cargo on standard pallets over distances of up to 5,600nm/10,400km. Incorporating the most advanced technologies available in this decade, it will be the most fuel efficient and environmentally friendly airliner ever built, while offering unequalled levels of passenger comfort and cargo carrying capability. First passenger operations are scheduled to begin in 2006 when the A380 is due to enter service. In addition, the first A380F, the freighter version of the aircraft, is expected to begin operations in 2008.