Waiting for Your Luggage–With 524 Other Travelers

The world’s biggest passenger plane should be able to land at most major world airports, reports AirportBusiness.com. But the trick is still how to get that many bags and that many people quickly and safely off of the plane and out of the terminal with all of their bags and their wits about them.

“Airbus is counting on a glitch-free introduction of the 525-seat plane after a series of delays caused shares in its parent company, European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. NV, to plunge and wiped billions of euros (dollars) off profit forecasts.

While Airbus insists that the A380 can operate on all runways, some airports have been enlarging runways to accommodate the plane’s larger wingspan and making other modifications as part of facility upgrades.

The cost of expanding runways and bridges and building new boarding lounges suitable for the massive A380 has run into millions of dollars for airports in San Francisco, London, Sydney, Singapore and Frankfurt.

The A380, scheduled for its first delivery to Singapore Airlines Ltd. in October, has already made test flights to more than 40 airports, including Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, New York John F. Kennedy, Los Angeles and Sydney.