World’s largest passenger aircraft A-380 lands at Colombo International Airport

ColomboPage:Airbus A-380-800, the world’s largest passenger plane, landed at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) at Katunayake Airport for refueling yesterday. The Emirates Airlines flight EK-449 traveling from Auckland, New Zealand to Dubai, UAE arrived at Katunayake Airport at 03.10 am to refuel, the Airport Duty Manager said.

Although the aircraft carrying 413 passengers and 29 crew members remained on the tarmac for approximately one hour and 45 minutes, passengers did not disembark. This is the third time an Airbus A-380-800 has landed at the BIA with last being in 2019 before the COVID-19 crisis.

The pilots of this plane had decided to refuel en route to Dubai in the event of delay in landing due to foggy weather prevailing in the vicinity of the Dubai airport. Ceylon Petroleum Corporation at the Katunayake Airport had taken steps to provide 62,800 liters of Jet A-1 type fuel worth Rs.16.8 million to this aircraft. The refueling took about 01 hour and 40 minutes, and after getting fuel, the plane left Katunayake airport for Dubai at 04.50 am on the same day.