IraqiGeek’s Blog

First “non-staff” flight for the A380

This Friday morning, the Airbus A380 made its first “non-staff” flight from Toulouse in southern France with about 200 journalists and media members on board as passengers, and some 48 tonnes of fuel for the one hour tour.

Yesterday, I watched CNN’s Business Traveler with Richard Quest as he flew on board this awesome superjumbo.

According to Richard, the plane was fitted in a 3-class configuration which enabled the plane to carry “only 519 passengers”!!! This is already more than what the venerable Boeing 747-400 “jumbo jet” can carry. Considering that the A380 is certified to carry 800 passengers when fitted entirely with economy class seats, the plane on Friday had only 65% of its seats capacity and 25% of its passenger.

Again, according to Richard, the plane was very quiet. One could barely hear the engine noise in the mics during the show, which while not an accurate measure of noise, is somewhat of a statement to how quiet the plane is.

I look forward to seeing this majestic monster enter service later this year. Heck, I’m even thinking of going on to Singapore for a weekend (Singapore Airlines the launch partner for the A380) just to see how it feels to be on board such a huge monster of a plane on a long haul trip.