Superjumbo touches down at Heathrow

The world’s largest passenger plane, the 555-seater Airbus A380 superjumbo, touched down safely at Heathrow Airport today on its first visit to the UK.

With British test pilot Ed Strongman at the controls, the double-decker aircraft drew to a halt outside a £105m (€155m) new pier at the west London airport.

Among the dignitaries welcoming the plane was Chancellor Gordon Brown. With him were the heads of some of the 16 airlines that have already ordered the 240-foot-long aircraft, which will go into passenger service in December this year.

Flying in from the Berlin Air Show, the plane had taken a deliberate detour so it could fly over two Airbus UK plants, Broughton in north Wales, where the plane’s wings are made, and Filton in Bristol.

Singapore Airlines will be the first carrier to start commercial flights using the A380 and will be including Heathrow on its superjumbo destination schedule.

Although the new plane could take up to 800 passengers, Singapore Airlines intends to start with fewer than 480 passengers in three classes.

Richard Branson’s airline Virgin Atlantic has ordered six superjumbos, which are due to arrive in 2008.

Heathrow is one of 25 airports that will be ready to take the A380 by the end of this year and 60 airports will be superjumbo-compatible by 2010.