The Airbus A380: the blaze of publicity has been on the size and the carrying capacity of the Airbus A380. Now comes the reality check as airports and ground support services have this giant roll up to the gate. Steve Bowman takes a quick survey of the reaction so far.(Cover story)

Ground Support, March, 2006 by Bowman, Steve

The publicity machine, an enterprise that just about matches the size of the aircraft itself, has covered just about every thing you will need to know about the Airbus A380. The 16 customers, who have signed up with 159 firm orders, at the time of writing, will be using at last count a total of about 60 airports on a scheduled basis.

Each of these airports has a long and expensive list of special requirements specific to handling an aircraft of this size on a regular basis. Everyone knew it was happening, everyone has had the statistics in front of them but not everyone has made the investment in infrastructure, handling facilities and training--yet.

When you apply the measuring tape to the airport plans, a wingspan of 79.8 m [261 ft 8 in] will...