As he seems to be from Sweden he may have visited the Airbus facility in Toulouse? Just a guess.
I have also seen the A380 9 months ago. Ok, not really, just the sections of some at the Airbus factory in Hamburg :wink: Nice thing was that they have the customers logo on a sign above it. So I know who will get ser no 32...35
I was on my way to SFO airport to fly Southwest Airlines (no-frills airline) on October 7, when out of the train's window left side I could see an A380 parked at a gate. No airline or logo, just "A380." It was great; and no one else in the train car seemed to give a damn. My girlfriend said it looked small and unimpressive. There were a lot of 747s around, and it's hard to see wingspan from an elevated train a quarter-mile away.
I wish it would come to Seattle, just to anger Boeing to make something bigger and better.
actually, i doubt that Boeing will make an A380 sized plane in the near future, it won out it seems on what the market wanted. A380 sales have been relatively poor, whereas the 787 dreamliner has had the most successful launch of any new aircraft design. they've shown an edge in innovation, and read the market's demand for range, flexibility, and fuel/cost efficiency in a manner which seems to have had significant success and given them a significant edge over Airbus (as the a350xwb is not to be released until around 2013) compared to the A380's small sales and questionable profitability (there's some sneaking suspicions going around that the only way airbus can sell it is through heavy discounting, cutting into the ROI on the entire project).
Boeing simply answered the a380 with an upgraded 747 (the 747-800) which was a relatively cheap project, doesn't match the girth of the A380 but simply provides an expanded, more fuel efficient, longer range 747. which seems pretty prudent to me, as the A380 seems to only be desired by Emirates (as they account for about 1/3rd of the A380's order books) and to replace some high density, hub to hub routes in high traffic airlines (British Airways purchased a few A380s and several 747-8's, stating this in essence).
I think Boeing's next big move will be a new model of the 777 or 767. maybe in 5 or 10 years a new composite model of the 737.