Quantas Airlines to participate in test flights of A380

The Airbus A380 is to become a major investment into Quantas’s fleet of aircraft as they have named next year to begin commercial flights.

Complete with a Quantas flight crew the A380 will be embarking on two test flights later this month. The first will be on March 19th landing at Los Angeles International Airport in front of at least 100,000 spectators. The second also on March 19th will land at John F Kennedy Airport.

"Being the first to bring the revolutionary A380 aircraft to LAX continues Qantas's tradition of being an industry leader and innovator," said Wally Mariani, Qantas's senior executive vice president of the Americas and Pacific.

"As the second oldest airline in the world, Qantas has made aviation history on many occasions, including pioneering long haul travel and being the first airline to launch a business class service.

"We are committed to providing our customers with the most up to date and technologically advanced fleet possible and this multi-billion dollar investment in the A380 which will bring new levels of comfort to our passengers, further demonstrates this."

In order to give more comfort for passengers on long haul flights the capacity to hold at least 800 passengers will be confined to only 500.

This spectacular event will enable Quantas to witness the plane’s ability to manoeuvre, its docking at the gate and any ground handling services.