Note: A Lufthansa Press Release, excerpted.
Different Note: Just a non-aviation related reminder that March 17 is the start of the Swimming World Championships in Melbourne. One of the competitors (female breaststroker) is a young cousin of mine! Wheee!
The Airbus A380 will demonstrate its quality and operational maturity under realistic conditions for the first time on a number of scheduled flights at the end of March 2007. As innovation partners, Lufthansa and Airbus will be subjecting the megaliner, certified last December, to over a week of practical testing as part of its so-called Commercial Route Proving. A real premiere en-route is the first landing of the A380 in the USA.
On Saturday, 17 March, the super jumbo, serial number 007, will arrive in Frankfurt from Toulouse and take off with a first contingent of about 500 guests on board from Frankfurt for New York on the following Monday. Up to Wednesday, 28 March, further stops on its flight plan will be Hong Kong and Washington. At the close of its route-proving, the A380 will also make a stopover in Munich.
On board the Airbus A380 will be mostly Lufthansa and Airbus employees, whose job is to test the in-flight systems and equipment – from the air conditioning, the lighting, and acoustics, through to the galleys and new-generation in-flight entertainment systems. The flight deck will be manned by both Airbus test pilots and experienced Lufthansa pilots, while cabin service will be in the hands of Lufthansa flight attendants.
At its central hub in Frankfurt, Lufthansa will take the opportunity to rigorously test the entire ground infrastructure for the A380. The airline intends, for example, to match the turnaround time of the new aircraft from landing to take-off with that of the much smaller long-haul jets already in operation.