U.S. airports make changes for A380

0 Comments | USA TODAY, January, 2005 | by Gary Stoller

At least a dozen U.S. airports are bracing for the arrival of the Goliath of the skies -- Airbus' new A380 jumbo jet.

They expect to spend hundreds of millions in airfield and gate modifications to prepare for the world's widest passenger jet before it lands for the first time in 2006.

New York John F. Kennedy plans to spend about $120 million. Charles Gargano, of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, says JFK plans to widen runways and shoulders of taxiways, and to strengthen bridges.

Five foreign airlines -- Virgin Atlantic, Air France, Lufthansa, Singapore and Emirates -- plan to begin flying the world's only twin-deck, four-aisle airliner into JFK in 2006 or 2007.

At Los Angeles International airport, where more than $53 million will be...