Airbus A380 to visit Japan, Australia and Taiwan in June 2007

The world’s largest passenger jet, the Airbus A380, is embarking on a new visit to the Asia Pacific region as part of a series of demonstration tours that will take place during the year. The Asia Pacific tour will take the A380 development aircraft MSN7 to Narita (Japan) from 4th - 6th June, then to Sydney (Australia) from 6th - 8th June and finally to Taipei (Taiwan) from 8th – 10th June, after having made a series of airport compatibility trials at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport from 1st till 3rd June jointly with Air France.

Recently, the A380 successfully completed its first tour to India, visiting New Delhi from 6th – 8th May and Mumbai, the headquarters of its first Indian customer, Kingfisher Airlines, from 9th – 10th June. Further tours will take the aircraft to North America, the Middle East, China and a a further trip to the Asia Pacific region.

The demonstration tours undertaken with MSN7 are part of the extensive campaign to prepare the A380 for a smooth entry into service. Operating under typical airline conditions, the aircraft will undergo airport compatibility checks, ground handling and maintenance procedures tests and demonstrate its compatibility with airports, confirming its readiness to enter service. The A380 has already visited more than 45 airports and by 2011, more than 70 airports will be ready for A380 operations.

In parallel, Airbus is progressing well with the first customer A380s. The painting of the first A380, for Singapore Airlines, was completed on May 2nd in Hamburg following completion of cabin installation and will be delivered to the airline in October. The subsequent aircraft, for delivery to Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airlines and Qantas are also believed to be on track.

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