It is being touted as the future of air travel as the world’s largest passenger aircraft Airbus A-380 touched down for the first time in India and the lucky ones were passengers from Delhi and Mumbai.
The Airbus A-380 is the double-decker plane with four-engines. It is also the tallest with a height of nearly 80 feet. In a three-class configuration, the plane can seat up to 555 passengers but in all economy configuration, it can pack in 800 people.
The first commercial A-380 plane will roll out late this year or early next year. Airbus has already booked firm orders for over 150 planes from various airlines across the globe, including Kingfisher Airlines, which has ordered five A-380 planes which has a list price of over $300 million per aircraft.
The aircraft is nicknamed as Super-jumbo. An A-380’s wingspan is 79.8m—as big as a football field. Only three airports in India, Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi, can accommodate to the plane.
The super jumbo aircraft is powered by four Trent engine manufactured by Rolls Royce and can fly 15,000 kilometres non-stop. During its India visit, it would be taking some VIPs on a flight of fancy over Delhi and on Tuesday it will fly to Mumbai.
Airports Authority of India and advance teams of Airbus Industries had been on the job in Delhi to prepare for various facilities including navigation of the super jumbo plane in the country which takes three Boeing 737 or Airbus 320 space. This tall aircraft will be flying off from Mumbai on May 9.
The Mumbai airport is also carrying an extensive watering programme before landing and departure to ensure that graded areas along the runway are damp in order to prevent any dust damage to the aircraft. A senior Airbus official said the objective behind the demo flight was to spread the message to its clients that these airports are A380-ready. This exercise would also help airport authorities to gauge their level of preparedness for scheduled operations of such aircraft.
By 2010, India will have at least five A380-compatible airports. New greenfield airports –– at Bangalore, Hyderabad and Cochin –– would be A380-ready by 2008.
Kingfisher has ordered 10 aircraft with options for five more. Vijay Mallya, owner of Kingfisher, proudly says his airline was the first to order A-380 in India. The UB Group airline is expected to get the planes in 2011. Kingfisher has plans to connect San Francisco with Bangalore via direct flights with the A380. However, other international carriers, including Emirates, Qatar and Lufthansa, have also shown interest in operating the aircraft in India.