Emirates first A380 lands in Dubai

A handful of Emirates employees clapped and cheered from the 10th floor of the Emirates Airline headquarters car park to mark the historic landing of the A380 superjumbo aircraft at Dubai International Airport Tuesday afternoon.

Although no official host ceremony was held to welcome the $320-million double-decker aircraft, some Emirate's employees welcomed home for the first time a plane that some call the future of the airline industry.

The four-engine bird appeared magically from an overcast haze around 5:35pm and flew a graceful fly-past before banking to the east toward Sharjah.
Eleven minutes later, the 469-seat aircraft landed, dwarfing other parked aircraft.

The plane flew from Hamburg where it was officially received on Monday by Emirates.

The plane will mark its historic first commercial flight to North America on August 1.

Onlookers were in awe to see the huge aircraft float through the skies above the eerily silent Terminal 3 – the eventual home to a fleet of 58 A380s in future -- which has yet to open.

“It's so exciting to see and be part of history in the making,'' said Carly Twiddle, 24, an Emirates flight attendant from England. “It seemed very surreal. I expected it to be noisier because of its sheer size.''

Kiwi Candice Went, 24, is also an Emirates stewardess, who said she was fascinated by the sight of the behemoth aircraft.

“It really glided in the sky, you couldn't hear a thing,'' Went said, standing next to the concrete half wall of the car park overlooking the airport.

The enormity of the plane was hard to take in, she said.

“It really fits the description of gentle giant, I am pleasantly surprised,'' she said.
Both attendants said they would love to serve on the A380 in future.

Emirates have ordered 58 of the planes.

Jackson David, 24, works as a member of Emirate's ground crew and was on hand in the car park for the A380's arrival.

“I'm so glad that I came here today to watch this. It really is history in the making,'' he said. “It was a perfect landing.''

Emirates said in a statement that it will thoroughly give the new aircraft a complete examination in the next few days before it embarks on its first flight to New York City.