Qantas Airways became the third airline to add an Airbus A380 to its fleet when its first super jumbo aircraft landed at Sydney airport yesterday, two years behind schedule.
The giant aircraft carrying 70 Qantas and Airbus staff plus journalists was welcomed at Sydney Airport by hundreds of applauding well-wishers after a 21-hour flight from the factory in Toulouse in France via Singapore.
The Airbus, which has a 525-seat capacity but which Qantas has configured to carry 450 passengers, will make its inaugural commercial flight from Melbourne, Australia, to Los Angeles on Oct. 20, Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti said in a statement.
PHOTO: AP
On board the delivery flight, Captain Peter Probert, whose father brought the first Boeing 747 jumbo to Australia in 1971, told passengers the flight had been a career highlight.
“It’s one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had in my life flying the Qantas A380 down to Sydney,” he said.
Before touchdown, the aircraft flew circuits over some of Sydney’s iconic landmarks, including the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Sydney Opera House.
The airliner was originally scheduled for delivery to Qantas in July 2006.
But a series of missteps, technical setbacks, communication failures and financial improprieties that have delayed the roll out.
During the official handover in France on Friday, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said that his airline was considering increasing its current order from 20.
He did not say how many more planes he wanted.
Qantas is scheduled to receive three this year.
The A380 model has been in service since Singapore Airlines took delivery of the first of the double-decker A380 planes late last year.
Singapore Airlines operates five of the 19 planes it ordered on long-haul routes to Asia, Australia and Europe.
Last month, Dubai-based Emirates Airlines took delivery of the first of the 58 Airbuses it has ordered.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS