Bangkok - An Airbus A380 test flight from Bangkok to Chiang
Mai got off to a bad start Saturday after the mammoth aircraft's left
winglet was crushed while backing out of its parking space at
Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The accident was caused by the Thai Airways International (THAI)
push-back operator who clipped a maintenance hangar, crumpling the
A380's left winglet, as he backed the aircraft onto the tarmac for
scheduled morning departure.
'This sort of thing happens every day, in every airport around the
world,' said Edouard Ullmo, Airbus' executive vice president of sales
for Asia Pacific.
Airbus decided to remove both winglets, designed to stabilize the
aircraft in heavy turbulence, before resuming the flight to Chiang
Mai Saturday afternoon.
'We can fly with one winglet or no winglets,' said Ullmo. 'This is
standard procedure.'
The test flight with 150 passengers on board departed for Chinag
Mai at 1:00 p.m. and arrived back in Bangkok at 7:00 p.m. without
further incident.
Saturday's test flight to Chiang Mai, a popular tourist
destination situated 560 kilometres north of Bangkok, was the second
stopover in the kingdom for the A380.
THAI has ordered six of the planes, the world's largest.
The Chiang Mai flight was designed to disprove criticisms that the
massive A380, with a wingspan of 79 metres, was too large for most
airports.
'We want to prove with the flight to Chiang Mai that the A380 is
capable to operate also on so-called secondary airports,' said Ullmo.
Instead, the test flight may have revealed some on-going
operational problems at Thailand's largest international airport,
Suvarnabhumi, which was just opened for commercial flights in
September, last year.
The new airport has been plagued with numerous teething problems,
including cracks found on the taxiways shortly after opening, missing
baggage and insufficient bathrooms.
After its eventful stopover in Thailand, the A380 will fly on to
Hanoi on Sunday and later to Hong Kong and Seoul, albeit without its
winglets.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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