Inside A380 – A Legend Made For The Skies..

I’ve written a few news pieces about the Airbus A380, but never have I ever seen it for myself. Getting an invitation to get onboard the ‘King of the Skies’ was a huge honour and a privilege. My mind immediately went into overdrive. churning out a million questions, how big was the plane? How luxurious? What technical advancements made it possible? Who was the lucky pilot?..And so on. I boarded a flight to Hong Kong to set my humble foot onboard this magnificent giant bird. Here’s a blow-by-blow account of my first date with the A-380.


I had anticipated that the A-380 would be bigger than your average plane, but when I set my eyes for the first time on it physically, I was amazed at its humungous proportions. Large would be an understatement-it’s a colossal giant!

The A380, we are told, is capable of accommodating 519 passengers and generates 30% less noise than other jumbo jets. Airbus is calling this the plane of the 21st century, quoting that it will be the perfect aircraft for the air travel demand, in which air passenger volumes will double within 15 years. Nicknamed ‘King of the Skies’., it
is a highly advanced machine with state of the art technology which we were about to experience firsthand.

All of us selected journalists and others were present at Hong Kong airport on Saturday 24th of March. The airport workers on duty at the airport tarmac marvelled at its size and snapped photographs. Watching this giant bird parked with two large aerobridges hooked to the upper and lower decks exits thrilled me to the core. I was in the presence of a historic achievement, a scientific marvel. I was also as excited as a schoolboy.

I wondered how the interiors looked like, I wondered how smooth the plane ride was, I wondered if walking about on the aisles felt like a walk in the clouds. In fact, I could not stop wondering about this magnificent giant, looming before me.

The A380 was here in Hong Kong, as a part of its Route Proving tour and a group of foreign and local journalists, together with some big guns from Airbus and Lufthansa, were invited for a brief flight, which is operated by Lufthansa – and hence, the Asian journalists, including yours truly, became the first passengers from Asia to fly onboard the A380, bearing the flight number 8968.

Before the flight, a small media briefing, together with a presentation and photo session was organised at the departure gate lounge.

At the media briefing, Holger Haetty, board member of Lufthansa said that the A380 represented “a leap of innovation” and described it as an “ecological aircraft”. He elaborated on how the aircraft would play its role in the future and said that it was the first long-haul plane that consumed less than three litres per passenger over 100km – versus an average for Lufthansa’s fleet of 4.4 litres.

Asked why Airbus and Lufthansa choose Hong Kong for this demonstration, Ian Macdougall of Airbus said that said by 2025, Hong Kong will be the number one airport – by passenger volumes – for very large aircraft flights. “So it should be no surprise we chose to fly from here today,” he said.

After a few questions from the assembled media, and some good finger food, the announcement came for us to finally board the super-jumbo aircraft. Anticipation was at an all-time high.

Since this was a special and exclusive flight, no seats were assigned, even though on our boarding tickets there were seat numbers. Boarding the aircraft, I joined a fellow journalist from Malaysia and we made ourselves very comfortable indeed in one of the 64 business class seats on the upper deck.
A quick view outside clearly showed the two Trent 900 engines powering up. The backdrop was even more exciting. The entire Hong Kong Airport was watching. Airport workers who were driving literally stopped their vehicles and watched. Everyone at the tarmac stood still, as though some national anthem is playing over the airwaves, or some royalty is onboard. A380 made such a grand impression, I must say, and we truly felt like royalty.

This A380 is configured with 12 first class seats, 64 business class and 307 economy class – for a total of 519. Considerably bigger than a Boeing 747, which has about 360 seats. According to the brochure handed to us, the A380 has 50% more floor surface than a 747. Commercial airlines have a free hand in deciding the configuration for their A380, as in the number of seats and classes they wish.

As I said, we found a nice spot in the business class. The journalist who was sitting next to me was quite impressed with the leg-room which really allowed us to stretch.
Although we had to lean forward to reach the touch screen monitors, this minor inconvenience pales into insignificance at the choices available here. Amazingly, there were more movies choices than the Boeing 777 in-flight movies operated by Emirates, which I flew in to Frankfurt a few months back. But then again, this is the A380. And we are talking not only about physical space but also movie storage space.

The entire business class is configured with cream leather seating and flatbeds. A simple touch controls on the right hand adjusts the seat pitch. Did I mention the leg-room? My journalist friend keep telling me that the leg-room itself got him all excited. And we had not even visited the rest of the cabin yet.

An announcement over the PA asked us to turn on our screens, and this revealed an image of the plane, as seen from a camera on the tailfin. From this angle, I could see the plane edging away from the terminal.

There were also other cameras, placed at the bottom of the cabin for a view of the tarmac and one pilot-view camera, which shows the runaway ahead. Neat.

With the tail-fin view, I could clearly see the number of airport workers standing and admiring this aircraft as it backed away from the gate. What a crowd-puller.

The captain announced it would be a one-and-a-half hour flight, in which we would fly about 200 miles south of Hong Kong and then return.
We were asked to buckle up, put all our gear and bags in the overhead compartment and prepare for takeoff. The aircraft was at the takeoff runaway and I was euphoric to hear the Trent 900s roaring with power.

The take-off was smooth and relatively noiseless. Within a few minutes we were airborne. The A380 brochure stated that the aircraft requires 10% less runway to take-off than a 747.

Throughout the flight, most media people I spoke to agreed that this was a much quieter aircraft. It also felt more stable somehow, perfectly in control.
The Hong Kong weather was rather cloudy that day and remarkably, I felt no unsteady movement of the aircraft due to turbulence. It was a smooth ride all the way as the aircraft climbed to cruising altitude.

Reaching cruising altitude, we were invited to walk around the plane at our leisure, The announcement of champagne and finger food available at the first-class bar got my media friend smiling.

Unbuckling, I went straight to the right window seat, one row behind. I could see a clear view of the Trents here. They burned unflustered. Unwavering and stable, with more power in reserve, they were ready to fire away at the pilot’s command. Clumps of satin white clouds vastly below us, bouncing mild golden rays of the sun on the wings and into the cabin where I was sitting. The deep blue sky above was calm and tranquil. It was indeed a perfect day to fly.

I headed to the bar for some finger food. Then I walked up the entire upper deck aisle. The communal bar area is designed in a very unique concept. However, the bar was pretty small, and was designed just to serve the 12 first-class passengers.

The business class seats on the upper deck are strikingly in a one colour concept—cream. As I’ve mentioned, all seat had pleasingly ample leg room and elbow room. The aisles are naturally wider too There is a sense of space, no one cramps up here, there is enough room to stretch and relax... The business class area also had a couple of sofas where one could sit down and have a chat or catch up on some reading in a relaxing manner.
Further behind, there are 136 economy class seats, with 2-4-2 seat configurations.

It was rather strange to be in a moving aircraft where practically no one was sitting down. Almost everyone was either walking around, or speaking into TV cameras. We were even allowed – one by one – to go into the cockpit. In my case, I have been inside a cockpit before, during airshows and static displays but never on a flying aircraft.

The cockpit was exceptionally modest size, given the size of the plane. In front of the captain and his first officer were the impressive avionics systems.

One of the many surprises was the first-class washroom, which struck me as an innovative idea. The toilet seat was positioned directly below the window. For the male washroom, you can have the sensation of looking into the passing clouds as you ‘go’.

Of all the classes I saw in the A380, the biggest impact, I would say, will be the economy class. It has a fair amount of shoulder space and legroom, about four to five inches more spacious (from knee to seatback) and, when reclined, the position was comfortable.

An announcement informed that we would shortly be descending back into Hong Kong. We were again amazed with the gentle landing. This was all the more surprisingly given the amount of weight that was hitting the runway. This in itself, along with the plane’s noise reduction, makes the A380 an innovative engineering feat.
Through my experience onboard, I believe, in my own view, passengers will have a excellent flying experience on the A380 compared to any other aircraft in the market today.
This is a milestone in aviation industry. When Singapore Airlines launches its first A380 service, I’m prepared to see a long waiting and anticipating passenger list. Lucky for me, I can say “been there, done that” with a grin on my face.

BY: JOHN GILBERT ANTHONY