THE honeymoon period of media and industry praise for the Airbus 380 may already be over with Associated Press reporting that the superjumbo will be too big too land at many major airports in the US.

The report said that currently many runways are too narrow and the load/unload infrastructure would not be able to cope with the demands of the double-decker plane.

The sheer size of the jumbo could also affect other traffic as it taxis to takeoff and, at the more extreme end, some officials worry the weight of the plane would collapse tunnels and buckle overpasses, added the article.

The article quoted an aviation analyst who said: "Let's do a cost/benefit analysis. Are you really going to spend millions of dollars [to accmodate the superjumbo when] you might have two of them a day fly in?"

While the A380 is not much longer than Boeing's latest 747, currently the world's largest commercial airplane, it is wider and considerably heavier and that is where the problem lies.

With a wingspan of 79.5 metres, it is 15 metres wider than the 747 as well as broader than many runways and taxiways. The airplane weighs in at a maximum of 544,320 kilograms, 30 per cent more than the biggest 747.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says just four US airports - John F Kennedy in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Miami - are currently working on plans to accept the new plane for passengers, while Anchorage and Memphis are working with the FAA to take the cargo version, said the report.

The article added that Airbus said that it has also talked with many other airports in North America and anticipates more will be able to land the plane on a regular basis by 2011.

Outside the US, airports that are reportedly making necessary preparations for the superjumbo include London's Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Changi Airport in Singapore and Australia's Sydney Airport.