Super Jumbo Airbus to Land in Addis


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.



By Tamrat G. Giorgis

Fortune Staff Writer