Mega-Jet A380 Makes Miami its Seventh North American Destination
Published: Feb 27, 2012
The world's largest passenger airliner made its debut at Miami International Airport (MIA) on Friday, June 10, inaugurating Lufthansa German Airlines’ daily non-stop service between Miami, Florida, and Frankfurt, Germany, making it only the seventh North American carrier to get service by the new mega-jumbo Airbus jet.
Few airports can handle the A380, which seats 550 or more passengers, primary due to its massive 263-foot wing span. But Miami’s South Terminal was specifically built to handle the superjumbo jet. Miami International Airport is the fifth U.S. airfield and the first in the southeast United States to get A380 service.
The $360 million A380 (public airline retail price) has four bars and two large upper deck shower facilities in its standard three-class configuration, with separate changing and restroom areas for men and women. The main deck economy class cabin features in-seat video screens on all seat backs for additional passenger space. Flights departing MIA's Terminal J at 4 p.m. will arrive in Frankfurt at 7 a.m. local time. Approximately 23 crew members, including five cockpit crew members, will operate each flight.
The Airbus A380 is the first-ever completely double-deck wide-body, aircraft, constructed with four engines, two on each wing, and manufactured by the European corporate conglomerate Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS. Constructed to compete with Boeing's monopoly in the ultra large-aircraft market, the A380 made its first commercial flight in October 2007 from Singapore to Sydney, operated by Singapore Airlines.
The A380 provides seating for up to 550 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 850 people in all-economy class configurations. The A380-800 is designed to operate over a range of 9,400 statute miles, making it capable of flying from New York to Hong Kong. As of May 2011, Airbus said it had 234 firm orders for the A380, 49 of which had been delivered. Emirates made the largest order, with a total of 90 copies.
The A380 flies to Los Angeles, Montreal, New York JFK, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington Dulles.
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by Jim Brown , Reporter for HelloFlight.com
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