(05-11) 11:10 PDT -- A decade-long dream became reality Tuesday when Lufthansa Flight 454 from Frankfurt touched down at San Francisco International Airport, kicking off SFO's first regularly scheduled daily service with the Airbus A380 - the world's largest passenger jetliner.

The event was significant for SFO, where prescient planners opened an International Terminal in December 2000 that was purpose-built to handle such huge airplanes of the future. The $1 billion terminal has four two-level gateways that allow massive double-decker planes to load and unload the two passenger decks simultaneously.

The build-it-and-they-will-come philosophy took 10 1/2 years to pay off, stalled by two deep recessions, 9/11 and the fact that there were no double-decker superjumbos actually flying until late 2007.

But that didn't seem to matter Tuesday as city and airport officials joined executives from Lufthansa and Airbus, the European company that builds the A380, at an International Terminal celebration. A plane-spotting party drew hundreds to Millbrae's Bayfront Park, while inside, balloons, a band and bullish predictions of more travel and commerce between the Bay Area, Germany and beyond filled the air.

The four-engine A380 is configured to haul 526 passengers. The second-largest passenger jetliner, the Boeing 747-400, typically carries 300 to 400 passengers.

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Airline spokesman Martin Riecken said Lufthansa will operate a daily afternoon departure from SFO to Frankfurt and a morning arrival from Frankfurt, Germany's financial capital, through Oct. 31, the busy season. In winter, Lufthansa will swap the A380 for the Boeing 747.

Air France gets A380

On June 6, Air France also will begin service with the A380, which it plans to operate between SFO and Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport until Sept. 4, with an eye to redeploying the big plane in the summer of 2012.

"It's very exciting to have the A380 here," airport Director John Martin said. "Our growth is coming chiefly in international travel, and the A380 is a perfect fit for that. We're up nearly 7 percent from last year in international passengers." All told, Martin said, SFO has 97 percent of the international passengers among the three major Bay Area airports.

Not just Germany

San Francisco Travel Association President and CEO Joe D'Alessandro noted: "Germany is a very important market for us. But this service will allow ease of travel not just to Germany but to the Middle East and South Asia, as well, through Frankfurt. Tourism is San Francisco's No. 1 industry, and one-third of our visitors are international arrivals."

A cluster of Bay Area government and business leaders piled onto the inaugural A380 flight, which left Frankfurt International Airport Tuesday morning in warm, hazy sunshine. As they boarded, the high-fliers were serenaded by the recorded voice of Scott McKenzie warbling his 1967 hippie anthem "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)."

Once airborne, the enormous plane - it weighs nearly 1.3 million pounds and stands as tall as a four-story building - impressed passengers with its relatively quiet jet engines, smooth ride, wired-to-the-max work and entertainment systems and all-around spaciousness, especially in business class.

5 airlines fly A380

Each of the five airlines now flying the A380 configures the aircraft to its own design. Lufthansa has installed 420 economy-class seats - all on the lower deck - and devoted the upper deck to eight sumptuous first-class seats and an unusually numerous 98 business-class seats.

This is, of course, by design. On board the aircraft during the inaugural flight, Lufthansa Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr told reporters the airline is wooing Bay Area business flyers because of the high-tech and venture capital executives in the region and the large number of Indian engineers in Silicon Valley who fly back and forth to India. Lufthansa, a profitable airline, competes for business to India out of SFO with prosperous Emirates and Singapore Airlines, both of which fly A380s on other routes, but not the Bay Area.

Lufthansa has 6

Spohr said Lufthansa flies six A380s to six destinations, including mega-markets such as Tokyo and New York, and expects to have 15 of the superjumbos in use by 2015.

"It is much quieter than other wide-body aircraft. It gives 15 percent more space for everybody," he said. "It's a much less fuel-consuming aircraft. It's a much more efficient aircraft; it costs 30 percent less to operate than other wide bodies."

The A380's modernity, comfort and stylishness should help drive business between the Bay Area and overseas markets, said R. Sean Randolph, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. Randolph said he thinks this is especially true of the burgeoning business relationship with India, which generates high transpacific traffic.

The A380 should enable growth in all these areas, and drive up passengers numbers at SFO, which handles 39 million passengers a year. Said SFO's Martin: "There will be more A380s down the road."