An Airbus A380 cruised past Hong Kong's famed skyline twice yesterday to drum up sales in Asia for the world's largest passenger jet.
The giant aircraft arrived in Hong Kong late on Sunday, a day after it scraped its wing on an airport building in Bangkok.
Carrying a small crew, the jet flew over Hong Kong's Tsing Ma bridge before crossing Victoria Harbor, where it passed the 420m high Two ifc, Hong Kong's tallest building. It then looped in Hong Kong airspace before repeating the fly-by over the harbor.
PHOTO: AP
Airbus chief commercial officer John Leahy said the aircraft cruised past at 400m yesterday and would drop down to 300m during a similar promotional flight today.
The wide-body, 555-seat plane is visiting Hong Kong to coincide with the Asian Aerospace 2007 show, which runs till Thursday.
In Bangkok on Saturday, the plane scraped its left wing tip on a hangar at Suvarnabhumi Airport while taxiing in preparation for a demonstration flight. Officials said the hangar's door had not been designed for the plane's unusually long wingspan.
The A380 had already visited more than 45 airports worldwide by late last month, and more than 70 airports will be ready for the plane by 2011, Airbus said earlier.
The plane had been to Hong Kong twice, once last November to test the city's airport facilities and in March as part of a promotional tour.
Airbus has said 14 customers have either placed orders for or committed to buying a total of 173 A380s, with clients including Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airlines and Qantas. Leahy said he does no expect new orders at the Hong Kong air show.
Airbus is scheduled to deliver its first A380 to Singapore Airlines on Oct. 15, a delay of more than a year because of production problems.
Leahy said he expected Chinese airlines to order 113 A380s over the next 20 years, and an average of 100 to 150 Airbus aircraft each year in the next five years.
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