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Super
Jumbo Airbus A380-800 to Land in Addis Ababa
Addis
Fortune (Addis Ababa)
October 10, 2006
By Tamrat G. Giorgis
The world's largest aircraft ever, the European Airbus A380, will
be landing at the Addis Abeba's Bole international airport, making
Ethiopia the first African sky to witness what is often described
as "super jumbo" aircraft. It will arrive in mid October
2006, to have a test flight for about a week, reliable sources
told Fortune.
A380-800 is the largest commercial aircraft the world has seen so
far; with its double-deck, it is designed to carry 555 passengers
at a time in a three-class configuration. This number can,
however, increase to 853 passengers should an airline decide to
configure the flight fully in economy.
Addis Abeba and its Bole International Airport were chosen as the
test site for the local altitude of 2,500 meters above sea level,
a flight and landing circumstance not available in previous test
locations.
The aircraft was developed by the European consortium, Airbus,
based in Toulouse, France, in the early 1990s, in a bid to break
the American Boeing's dominance in the aviation manufacturing
business, especially with its signature 747 aircraft.
The two companies have a made major gambles on different
understandings of the future of passenger flying habits, although
their projection of passenger volume and expected business
earnings over the next 20 years are similar.
Boeing believes the business model that will work in the future is
with passengers flying shorter distances in smaller aircrafts.
Airbus believes the opposite; the future aviation market will
prefer long distances flying aircrafts that could offer cheaper
prices to passengers.
Developed in this philosophy, the A380 cost the consortium 11
billion euro to develop. It can fly 15,000Km nonstop, a distance
from Chicago (United States) to Sydney (Australia).
Although manufacturing started in 2002, it took three years for the
aircraft to have its maiden flight in the southern French sky in
April last year, with live coverage by all international cable
news services.
Airbus has since then conducted a series of test flight across the
world visiting such cities as Singapore, Brisbane, Sydney,
Melbourne, Kuala Lampur, Dubai, Hamburg, Medellin (Colombia) and
Nunavut (Canada). In many of these countries, the colours of the
national airlines were applied to the outer tiles of the aircraft.
It is not clear whether Ethiopian's colour will be applied during
A380's one week stay; negotiations are still underway with
aviation authorities here to finalize landing fee amounts.
"I do not see any reason why a permit should not be given to
Airbus," said a senior official from the Ethiopian Civil
Aviation Authority.
It will not be the first Airbus to test its aircraft within
Ethiopian airspace. In fact, its previous test couple of years ago
caused damages on the runway, with Lufthansa having to pay the
maintenance costs later on.
Aviation authorities have confidence that the newly constructed
runway can safely carry the weight of A380, reportedly the
heaviest takeoff weight ever flown. It can land in any runway that
can take Boeing 747, according to experts. The Authority has given
a permit to a flower company, Sher Ethiopia, to start flying a
Boeing 747 cargo aircraft, beginning October 10, 2006.
Singapore Airlines, which has placed a total order of 19 A380's, is
expected to be the first airline to receive these aircrafts at the
end of 2007.
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