On Board the Airbus A380

In late March, the United States welcomed two new double-decker airplanes to a few chosen airports. The Airbus A380 is the newest and hottest member of the Airbus family. The first A380 landed at Kennedy Airport in New York carrying 500 passengers consisting of Airbus employees and members of the press. The second landed at Los Angeles International Airport with only the crew on board. One of these planes was scheduled to arrive at Dulles International Airport just outside of Washington, D.C. a few days later and I had the wonderful opportunity to go on board for a tour.

The morning air was crisp and a bit on the nippy side the day that I got to experience the excitement of seeing the Airbus A380 for the first time. It had landed the previous night and I was thrilled when I realized I was about to have a chance that only a few have had so far to take a tour of this huge aircraft.

Since it was parked way out in the south forty at Dulles International Airport, we were escorted to the huge jet by the airport tram. As we approached, I noticed there was a Boeing 747 sitting in the vicinity making it possible to compare the size of the two aircraft. I chuckled to myself as I remembered the first time I saw a 747 jumbo jet and reminisced about how I thought it had been the biggest plane I had ever seen. I even had the opportunity to ride in the cockpit once in a 747, but nothing compared to the beauty of this brand new, shiny Airbus A380. The A380, for sure, is the largest plane I have ever seen.

As I spent some time on the aircraft, I learned that the A380 is the largest civil aircraft in history. It was launched in December 2000, 40 years after the Boeing 747 was put into service. It has two passenger decks with a total area of 5,920 square feet, which would be the equivalent of 1-1/4 basketball courts. When you add the cargo/baggage hold to that, there is enough room to hold 35 million ping pong balls. The new Airbus A380 can carry 35 percent more passengers than the 747 and provides more open space for passengers to stretch their legs. This huge aircraft can accommodate 555 passengers in the standard three-class configuration.

As soon as I saw the first class section on the upper deck, I decided that one day I would be a passenger on this luxurious plane. With the flip of a switch, the first class seats recline fully into a bed, making flying from continent to continent a whole new experience. If you are lucky enough to get a window seat in certain areas, there are extra storage spaces along the side of the seats under the window. With this added storage, the window seat passengers won't need to store their carry-on luggage under the seats in front of them. For travelers who want to use their computers on board, each first class and business class seat had electric and network connections. The first class lavatories even had a window.

Business class looked like a comfortable and inviting section as well. Here again I saw those superb reclining seats with plenty of space for stretching out. The magazine racks were placed next to the television screens making it more convenient for the passengers. Even economy class appeared to have more room than other aircraft on which I have traveled.

Before the Airbus 380 departed the Washington area, it took a few minutes to perform a fly-over of the Nation's Capital, allowing many DC employees and tourists to view this incredible aircraft.

Airbus has been building aircraft for 35 years and is expecting air traffic to triple over the next 20 years. I wonder what type of aircraft they will be coming up with next. I'm sure they won't disappoint us.