World's largest plane in smooth test flight to kingdom

BANGKOK: -- The new A380 superjumbo of European aircraft manufacturer Airbus landed smoothly on Tuesday at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport for its first arrival in the kingdom, following a world test flight schedule, showing the new airport's capacity to handle the giant plane.

The superjumbo, carrying a minimal 55 passengers and five crew, landed at 1.22 pm ( 0622 GMT).

The Airbus A380 is scheduled to fly back to Toulouse, France, on Thursday, Airbus director of product marketing, Richard Carcaillet said.

The world's largest plane, which can carry up to 555 passengers, stopped in several Asian countries, including Singapore and Hong Kong, in its 18-day global test that was wrapped up last week.

Thai Airways (THAI) has ordered six of the 555-seat planes. The first plane will be delivered in 2011, 22 months behind its earlier schedule due to Airbus production problems, according to THAI President Apinan Sumanaseni.

The national flag carrier threatened to fine the European plane maker and demanded compensation for the delays.

The issue is now under negotiation and the parties will hold a joint press conference on Wednesday.

The airline has planned to use the giant planes to service passengers on its popular routes from Bangkok to Frankfurt, London and Paris.

Carcaillet said he was confident that the Thai delivery will be on time.

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, four-engined airliner with a maximum range of 15,000 kilometres. It first flew on April 27, 2005. Commercial flights are scheduled to begin in 2007 after lengthy delays.

--TNA 2006-12-05

my buddy and watched it land. from nearly head on, the wingspan was awesome and gracefully curved. from the side it looked a little stubby.

World's largest plane in smooth test flight to kingdom

BANGKOK: -- The new A380 superjumbo of European aircraft manufacturer Airbus landed smoothly on Tuesday at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport for its first arrival in the kingdom, following a world test flight schedule, showing the new airport's capacity to handle the giant plane.

The superjumbo, carrying a minimal 55 passengers and five crew, landed at 1.22 pm ( 0622 GMT).

The Airbus A380 is scheduled to fly back to Toulouse, France, on Thursday, Airbus director of product marketing, Richard Carcaillet said.

The world's largest plane, which can carry up to 555 passengers, stopped in several Asian countries, including Singapore and Hong Kong, in its 18-day global test that was wrapped up last week.

Thai Airways (THAI) has ordered six of the 555-seat planes. The first plane will be delivered in 2011, 22 months behind its earlier schedule due to Airbus production problems, according to THAI President Apinan Sumanaseni.

The national flag carrier threatened to fine the European plane maker and demanded compensation for the delays.

The issue is now under negotiation and the parties will hold a joint press conference on Wednesday.

The airline has planned to use the giant planes to service passengers on its popular routes from Bangkok to Frankfurt, London and Paris.

Carcaillet said he was confident that the Thai delivery will be on time.

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, four-engined airliner with a maximum range of 15,000 kilometres. It first flew on April 27, 2005. Commercial flights are scheduled to begin in 2007 after lengthy delays.

--TNA 2006-12-05

...Where Airbus will offer some free complimentary playing cards and faces will be saved all round...

And here are some pictures I took today:

If you want to know more about this aircraft, you can find details on my site www.aircraftspotting.net

If you want to know more about this aircraft, you can find details on my site www.aircraftspotting.net

Although I'm a railroad fan, I found your site interesting and well done with some great photos.

Nice pics! Any idea if the general public can take a peek inside?

The plane will stay in BKK till Thursday, but I don't know what the planning is. When we drove off around 17.00 the A380 was being towed into the THAI hangar. I suppose they'll have loads of VIP's and such.

Maybe tke King will have a look too?

World's Largest Plane Lands At World's Newest Airport

A test flight of Airbus' A380 superjumbo jet ended at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport Tuesday without a hitch, making it the 38th airport successfully tested by the world's largest aircraft.

The test flight, carrying dummy passengers and five crew, landed a few minutes behind schedule, the Thai News Agency reported.

The A380 was flown to Bangkok as part of Airbus' ongoing sales negotiations with the national carrier, Thai Airways International, which has ordered six of the colossi, and to test its "compatibility" with Bangkok's new airport, Richard Carcaillet, Airbus' director of product marketing, said at a press conference.

Airbus was expecting the A380, its newest aircraft, which is capable of handling 555 passengers, to be certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency and US Federal Aviation Administration within a week, Carcaillet said.

Thus far, 166 A380s have been ordered worldwide, including six by Thai Airways, although that order is now under discussion after production delays and a change in government in Thailand in September.

Thai Airways planned to use the planes on its popular routes from Bangkok to Frankfurt, London and Paris.

Carcaillet said Monday that he was confident the delivery of six A380s to the airline by 2011 will be on time.

Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport, which opened on September 28 after several delays, is the world's newest airport and was built to accommodate the A380.

Source: DPA - 6 December 2006

And here are some pictures I took today:

If you want to know more about this aircraft, you can find details on my site www.aircraftspotting.net

Looks like they had to park the monster remotely rather than use a contact gate. Can you imagine how many buses they'd need to unload a full A380? All the buses might be enough to create a traffic jam. Imagine it would take close to an hour to get everyone to the terminal. Let's hope the problems with the contact gates are fixed before any A380's fly into Suvarnabhumi on commercial flights.

Edited December 6, 200619 yr by Soju

World's Largest Plane Lands At World's Newest Airport

The test flight, carrying dummy passengers and five crew, landed a few minutes behind schedule, the Thai News Agency reported.

Source: DPA - 6 December 2006

Dummy Passengers, sounds exactly the same as the passengers arriving from all over the world via all airlines. As we all ready know, people arriving at Bkk airport are dummies as they leave there brain at the airport and wear their heart on their sleeve.

Nice pictures Levent thanks

As one AC spotter to another I hope you can photochop those poles growing out of it's fuselage.

Is that the Thai Royal Insignia behind the cockpit ? If so excellent PR move considering the date of arrival

Don't you think they would scrub the fuselage on a promotional tour to keep the white paint white?

Or, is that just the current-day BKK pollution run off?

And, for Rimmer:

Is that the Thai Royal Insignia behind the cockpit ? If so excellent PR move considering the date of arrival

The Royal Emblem depicts the Royal Cipher of His Majesty the King in a golden yellow colour, the colour of His Majesty's day of Birth. It is trimmed in gold on a golden blue background, which is the colour of the Monarchy, and encircled by diamonds, first of gems, meaning the wise men, important authors of the court, well known craftsmen, important elephants, graceful ladies, valiant soldiers, courtiers.

More here.

Is that the Thai Royal Insignia behind the cockpit ? If so excellent PR move considering the date of arrival

It can be found on many Thai Airways planes like on this Airbus A300:

In my opinion they should also have added a THAI sticker, as they did on previous tours to show the plane to Singapore Airlines and Qantas, for example. Well, maybe there wasn't enough time for that...