Major international airports around the world are gearing up for the arrival of the Airbus A380, which is due to start revenue services in two years' time.
Last week, New York Kennedy airport's board of commissioners authorised a series of improvements to prepare the airport for the 555-seater. Early A380 operators such as Air France, Emirates and Virgin Atlantic are all likely to serve the airport within the first year of operations. Kennedy's infrastructure improvement project, which will cost about $179 million, will include modernisation of facilities, as well as the modifications necessary to accommodate the A380.
Meanwhile, London Heathrow airport operator BAA has begun an extensive redevelopment of terminal facilities as it prepares for the arrival of the ultra-large airliner. Emirates, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic will be the first to begin A380 services at Heathrow in 2006.
The largest redevelopment will be the £100 million ($180 million) renovation of Terminal 3's pier 6, which will be demolished and rebuilt. When completed in late 2005, the three-storey pier 6 will provide four stands for the A380, each of which will have two airbridges to enable loading of the main and upper decks simultaneously. Terminal 3's baggage reclaim zone is being expanded to cope with greater volumes of luggage.
From mid-2006, Terminal 4 will have four stands and three gates configured for the A380. When it opens in 2008, the new Terminal 5 will have five A380 stands, increasing to 14 by 2011.
BAA forecasts that, by 2016, one in every eight flights into Heathrow will be operated by an A380. BAA is investing £450 million to prepare Heathrow for the A380 and secure the required International Civil Aviation Organisation Category F classification to permit it to handle the aircraft. The A380's 79.8m (262ft) wingspan exceeds the 65m limit of Category E, which is the classification for today's largest passenger airliner, the Boeing 747-400.
Germany's Munich airport recently became the first in Europe to gain formal Category F classification, and will initially have two stands able to handle the A380.
Source: Flight International
