Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet, touched down at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Monday morning.
The Airbus arrived after making an inaugural test flight from the builder's headquarters in Toulouse, France.
Hundreds of spectators were gathering at LAX to greet the Airbus superjumbo jet's arrival, most of them carrying cameras. One of the spectators, Lawrence Richardson, said he came by 5:00 AM local time to witness the historical arrival.
Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX, has spent more than 49 million U.S. dollars on a variety of projects to accommodate the Airbus A380, and another 72 million dollars will be spent in coming years. Improvements are being made to runways, taxiways and boarding gates to accommodate the aircraft.
After arrival on LAX's north runway, the superjumbo jet will taxi to the south runway and park in front of the Flight Path Museum tomorrow.
Following the arrival, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus North America; and Wally Mariani, senior executive vice president of Qantas Airways, appeared at a news conference at the museum to welcome the superjumbo jet.
The plane landing at LAX will be numbered MSN1, and its interior will not be set up for commercial passenger seating, officials said.
The landing at LAX coincided with another Airbus A380 touchdown at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. Qantas Airways will test maneuvering, terminal docking and ground-handling services at both airports.
The behemoth weighs 562 tons and has a wingspan of more than 261 feet. It can carry more than 800 passengers in an all economy- class configuration, or 555 with first-class and business seating. List price for the superjumbo jet is about US$300 million.
Airbus says it has sold 166 of the giant planes so far, including 10 that will be used to haul freight.
Qantas Airways executives have said the jet will play a key role in the airline's service to Australia. Qantas offers 37 weekly flights from LAX to Australia and New Zealand.
The plane can fly from Chicago to Sydney, Australia, nonstop.
Airbus executives had originally announced that they would fly the A380 only to New York, and then on to Chicago, bypassing Los Angeles altogether. That led to some last-minute negotiating between the city, Qantas and Airbus.
City officials said Airbus officials had vowed to bring the A380 to LAX if improvements were made at the airport to handle the plane, which is as tall as an eight-story building. Airbus then announced in late February that the plane would come to LAX after all.
(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2007)