First commercial A380 docks in Australia to worldwide attention
When the Wright brothers engineered the first controlled, powered flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C., in 1903, neither would have anticipated that one day, nearly 500 passengers would board a massive, two-story aircraft loaded with modern amenities and even sleeping suites. Nor could they have imagined that people would pay more than $100,000 to be the first commercial passengers to fly on this unique flight and participate in worldwide commercial aviation history.
When the Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 arrived in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 25, 2007, the story appeared in news reports around the world. Given the media attention focused on the flight, combined with 471 passengers eager to disembark, some had been skeptical about the ability of any airport to accommodate the demands of hosting an aircraft that size.
Despite the challenges, three Jetway® upper deck passenger boarding bridges from FMC Airport Systems successfully docked to the “king of the skies” and swiftly unloaded the 471 passengers within 15 minutes.
The multiple bridges and gate configuration allowed passengers from the economy and upper-class sections to exit the plane simultaneously without migrating through other cabin areas. As a result, passengers could deplane quickly and the airline avoided the confusion and delay that can arise when different fare classes are mixed together during the boarding/deboarding process. Avoiding the mixture of various fare types is a key marketing feature for many major airlines.
Operational flexibility
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| The multiple bridges and gate configuration allowed passengers from the economy and the upper-class sections to exit the plane simultaneously without migrating through other cabin areas. The ability to avoid mixing different fare types is a key marketing feature for many airlines. |
The multiple bridges and gate configuration allowed passengers from the economy and the upper-class sections to exit the plane simultaneously without migrating through other cabin areas. The ability to avoid mixing different fare types is a key marketing feature for many airlines.
In order to safely service both the A380 lower deck aircraft doors and upper level U1 door, electro-mechanical lift columns support the bridges in the three-bridge configuration used at the A380 gates in Sydney. The bridges installed at the Sydney Airport are designed to handle either a single A380 or any of the typical wide-body aircraft used in international travel. The gates are configured to use either two or three bridges during operation, depending on aircraft type and user preference, thus enhancing an airport's operational flexibility.
“To keep investments manageable, most major world airports will not be installing bridges dedicated solely to the A380,” explains Todd Tanner, Jetway director of global sales and marketing for JBT AeroTech. “Instead, they’ll seek out solutions that will excel in handling the special requirements of the A380 while also servicing a wide variety of other aircraft at the same gates. Meeting this combination of needs is exactly what our new bridge configurations do. We want to help airports and airlines worldwide maximize gate flexibility while minimizing related costs.”
JBT AeroTech has installed and operated several Jetway A380 apron drive passenger boarding bridges and ancillary equipment, including JetAire® pre-conditioned air systems and JetPower® ground power units, in different locations around the world since the A380 testing and inaugural flights started. Jetway A380 boarding bridges have successfully met the A380 needs of airports and airlines in Australia, the United States, Canada, the Republic of South Africa and the United Kingdom, among others.
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