It’s no secret that our very own Thai Airways put in an order for the modern marvel of engineering known as the Airbus A380, the largest commercial airliner ever built. The date which the plane is expected to enter service is constantly changing, but it looks like some production and assembly pictures have surfaced on the popular Thai airliner forum Hflight last week.
Nicknamed the “superjumbo” by aviation journalists, the European Airbus A380 holds 555 passengers on two decks. The wide body aircraft is powered by four Rolls Royce Trent 900 engine. To get an idea of exactly how big this plane is one can consider that many major hubs in the world have made provisions and modified the airport specifically to handle the A380.
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When the A380 is eventually delivered, Thai Airways will be the second operator in Southeast Asia to institute this aircraft after Singapore Airlines.
However, the introduction of this plane may not be welcomed by everyone. An interesting story that had ran in 2005 suggested that the EU strong-armed Thailand‘s national carrier into buying this plane in order for Thailand to escape paying the ultra-high import tariff on it’s European-bound prawns, a key export for the Southeast Asian nation.
Either way, the A380 seems to be well underway on its journey to our shores, as these recent pictures have shown the aircraft on a test flight.
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