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.