They were 14,20 hours, when the largest passenger plane in the world, Airbus A380 from Global Airlines, operated by a Portuguese Hi Fly crew, landed on the runways of Air Base No. 11, in Beja, and then stopped the engines of the four reactors at the Beja Airport parking apron.
Departure from Dresden airport, in Germany, It happened 72 hours later than initially scheduled to take off from Germany towards Beja, time the flight was delayed twice.
The aircraft of the new British long-haul airline took off on Friday, to 11,03 hours (portuguese time), having made long laps through the air of Alentejo, having flown twice over the Alqueva reservoir. After a first pass at low altitude along the urban perimeter of Beja and the airport,, made the landing on the military runways flying from south to north.
A aircraft, has already carried out maintenance work at Elbe Flugzeugwerke facilities, in Dresden, The painting on the tail has already been completed., must remain on the Beja airport parking signs, for interior customization and application of “livery†to the fuselage, for four weeks.
Global Airlines' Airbus A380 will be operated by Hi Fly, already have experience in this type of operation after having operated the A380 (9H-MIP), for the reactivation of the aircraft belonging to China Southern that was stored at the Mojave Desert Airport. The start of charter operations assured by Hi Fly, are scheduled for the end of next February.
Global Airlines Limited is a British start-up airline looking to commence operations from London, Gatwick Airport to New York and Los Angeles, using a fleet of four Airbus A380, having purchased the first plane in May 2023.
This is the second time that the largest passenger plane in the world has landed and parked in Beja, as a Hi Fly Airbus A380 landed for the first time on Portuguese soil, to 16,57 hours 23 July 2018, without any problem and after a “presentation tour†about the city of Beja.
The plane was painted with the designs of a campaign in defense of coral reefs, whose name adopted “Save the Coral Reefsâ€. No end of 2020, Hi Fly stopped operating the A38, for reasons linked to scarce demand due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
