Lufthansa's Airbus A380 (D-AIMD) gets a water salute when arriving to San Francisco on May 10th.
Today was a beautiful day to fly down to San Francisco (SFO) to greet the Lufthansa’s first Airbus A380 passenger flight from Frankfurt, Germany to SFO.
The Airbus A380 is the largest passenger airliner made and it’s closest competitor will be the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, when it makes it to the market. I have been able to catch a glimpse of a Qantas Airbus A380 while in LAX, but this was my first time to get up close and personal. I do not think the A380 is as majestic as the Boeing 747, but she is very impressive for sure.
The event is a big deal for the airline and the city. San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee has officially declared May 10, 2011, as “Lufthansa German Airlines Day.” Pretty cool when an airline gets an official city day. I am not sure it really means anything, but still neat.
The airport had to make very little updates to prepare for the A380, since the International Terminal was designed with the A380 in mind and it fit with no problems.
Lufthansa already has taken delivery of seven A380’s with an additional 15 on order.
As part of the event, we got a tour of the interior of the A380 and I will be posting that story tomorrow.
Very cool that you were able to be there for this event. I would also have to agree with you that the Boeing 747 is more majestic than the A380, but still an amazing aircraft!
We nearly came down there. Instead I tracked it on Flight Aware….it went WAY out west over the water before it turned back in for a landing. I thought about you guys all day.
Ha, yea. It flew circles since the media escort was running late and they wanted us all in place before the plane landed. Quite nice actually of them to do that.
David
Is this the plane with the really really long wings that knocked that other plane off the tarmac?
That is the same type of plane. Very big versus very small.
David
Well, I hope the pilots get a “feel” for the length of the wings!
Were are the galley photos? Just kidding. I bet the plane is a catering nightmare. What is the turn around time on the ground? 2 or 3 hrs?
American comments are so full of it. Lets face it the A 380 is top of the pack and cannot be compared with the 747 from the end of the sixties.
I am proud of this airplane and all the crews flying it around the world.