World's biggest passenger airplane lands at Islamabad airport

ISLAMABAD: The largest passenger aircraft of the world – Airbus A380 –  landed on Sunday for the first time on the New Islamabad International Airport.

The A380 flight arrived Islamabad at 12:10pm (PST) marking a landmark in the aviation history of Pakistan. Afterwards, at 3:40pm, it will depart from Islamabad airport and arrive in Dubai at 5:45pm.

The Emirates’ special one-off A380 flight to Islamabad took off from Dubai on Sunday morning with celebrities, officials and journalists on board, Gulf News reported.

Mostly, the flight has commercial passengers on board, except for a small official delegation.

According to Gulf News, Captain Fazle Ghani, who operated the first Emirates flight to Pakistan in 1985, is on board as a special guest. Also on board are Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UAE Moazzam Ahmed Khan and Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations Centre Shaikh Majid Al Mualla among others.

Although this is a one-off flight, Emirates wants to make the A380 a regular daily flight between Dubai and Islamabad in the future.

“We are proud to bring our flagship A380 aircraft to Islamabad, and we look forward to showcasing our innovative products on-board this iconic aircraft with the signature Emirates service. While this is a special flight, we are very keen to launch a scheduled A380 service to Pakistan and will continue to work with authorities to realise these plans,” Shaikh Majid Al Mualla said.

The A380 weighs 577 tons, its length is 240 feet and the wing span is 260 feet. The double-decker plane stands 80-foot high from the ground and has a speed of 945 kilometres per hour with its four powerful turbo engines.