Airbus Jet Sets Record On Paris-Auckland Flight

LE BOURGET, France - A European Airbus, which broke a distance record for an airliner, touched down outside Paris yesterday,hailed by a cheering crowd after a round-the-world flight.

The wide-bodied A-340 landed at Le Bourget airport north of the capital shortly after 3 a.m. Pacific time yesterday.

The four-engine aircraft had set the record for the longest nonstop flight by a commercial airliner Thursday, covering the 11,870 miles from Paris to Auckland in 21 hours 32 minutes.

After a five-hour stopover in New Zealand, it flew back to Paris, completing the trip around the globe in just over 48 hours.

The aircraft landed at the same airfield where U.S. aviator Charles Lindbergh completed the first nonstop Atlantic crossing in

1927.