Airbus SAS's A380 superjumbo made its first commercial landing in
London today, making Heathrow airport the third location to be served
by the plane.
The Singapore Airlines Ltd. flight arrived in the U.K. capital at about
2:50 p.m. The A380's first customer has been flying two of the 471-seat
planes between the southeast Asian city-state and Sydney since October
and added the London route after taking delivery of a third.
Heathrow,
Europe's busiest airport, will be the biggest A380 hub, according to
Toulouse, France-based Airbus, with an estimated 90 of the
double-decker aircraft operating regularly there by 2020. Other
Heathrow carriers with A380s on order include Virgin Atlantic Airways
Ltd., Emirates and British Airways Plc, the biggest user of the airport.
"The
A380 is an important aircraft for Heathrow," airport owner BAA Ltd.
said in a statement. "Its extra capacity will allow us to make
efficient use of our two busy runways. It will enable traffic growth
without a corresponding increase in flights, which will benefit the
airport, airlines and the environment."
BAA, a unit of Spanish
builder Grupo Ferrovial SA, spent 450 million pounds ($903 million)
preparing for the A380 by adding a new pier at Terminal 3 and
A380-sized stands at Terminal 5, which opens to the public on March 27,
together with a longer baggage-claim carousel for the extra passengers
and wider taxiways for the longer wingspan.
Heathrow-Friendly DesignThe
A380's design itself was modified to make it compliant with Heathrow's
most-stringent noise requirement, known as QC2, with the engines
equipped with bigger fan blades to reduce noise upon landing and
takeoff.
Singapore Airlines has 19 A380s on order, powered by
Rolls- Royce Group Plc Trent engines. The carrier will be the only one
flying the aircraft until summer, when Qantas and Emirates get their
first planes. British Airways has ordered 12 due to be delivered from
2012.
The A380 is certified to carry 873 people, including crew,
but has capacity for 525 in a standard layout -- 54 more than the
Singapore Airlines planes, which include 12 "suites'' for premium
passengers, with a full-length bed and sliding doors.
"Seats on
both legs of the inaugural flight to London were snapped up soon after
flight details were announced in late January this year,'' said Huang
Cheng Eng, Singapore Airlines executive vice president for marketing
and regions, in an e-mailed statement. "Forward bookings for A380
scheduled services there are strong."
Daily London Service
Singapore Airlines will fly the plane from
London to Singapore daily from today. The A380 made its Heathrow debut
in May 2006, when a non-commercial flight arrived to test the airport's
facilities.
Airbus says the A380 burns 17 percent less fuel per
seat than today's biggest jetliners and U.K. Aviation Minister Jim
Fitzpatrick, at Heathrow for the landing, said by e-mail that the
aircraft was ", cleaner, smarter and greener than existing commercial
planes."
Still, Heathrow, located in the heavily populated suburbs of west
London, has become a target of criticism from environmental
campaigners, many of whom say the A380's green credentials are
undermined by the extra passengers it carries.
"Cleaner aircraft are certainly needed, but they are not the solution
to the rising impact of aviation emissions on our climate," said
Richard Dyer, a campaigner for Friends of the Earth. "Any benefits
gained by building more fuel efficient aircraft will be swamped by the
rapid growth in air travel."
