To renew interest in its otherwise fledgling A380 program, Airbus announced an updated version of its double-deckered plane at the Paris Air Show today: the A380plus. Toting winglets that improve fuel burn by 4% and a redesigned cabin capable of holding 80 additional passengers (for a total of 960 in an all-economy configuration with 3-5-3 abreast), Airbus says that this new iteration of the superjumbo will reduce the cost per seat ratio by 13%. In an industry characterized by razor-thin profit margins, these refinements could make the difference of being in the black or in the red.

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