Qantas showed off the new super-sized jewel of its fleet, the Airbus A380, with a Hollywood-style red carpet premiere today at Los Angeles international airport for 100 VIP American guests.
Just like any good Hollywood event, this one had a touch of controversy.
An arcane, 100-year-old Californian law left LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other LA City Council members on the tarmac waving goodbye as the Qantas Airbus took off for a two-hour test flight over LA to impress the 100 guests and members of the American media who did make it onboard.
"It's a crazy law isn't it," a smiling Villaraigosa said as he walked through the airliner, shaking hands with the passengers, 30 minutes before the plane departed.
"Can you believe it?"
Villaraigosa, who has lobbied for LA to be a major hub for the A380, and the LA Council members were legally required to leave the aircraft after the inspection because of the archaic state law that bars public officials from accepting free transportation.
The law was designed to prevent Californian public officials from accepting free railroad trips in the early 1900s from railway companies soliciting government contracts.
If Villaraigosa, who led a $US120 million refit of the airport to cater for the super jumbo A380, had accepted the free trip on Qantas' Airbus today, he could have been booted out of office.
The drama did not dampen Qantas' enthusiasm for the A380, which is the largest passenger jet in the world.
Veteran Qantas pilot Murray Crockett was in the cockpit for today's demonstration flight over LA that attracted thousands of aviation fanatics who stood on vantage points around the airport to watch the take-off and landing.
A 100-metre long red carpet was rolled out along the tarmac to the 70-metre A380 to welcome the VIP guests, which included TV executives, travel industry leaders and aviation journalists from some of America's most-read newspapers.
Qantas also had a 12-member crew for the flight serving champagne and canapes, including smoked salmon, caviar and crab tostadas, designed by Australian chef Neil Perry.
Qantas and the French-based Airbus first flew an A380 into LA in March, but it did not include passengers or a Qantas crew.
"This is the first time in the US that Qantas has had passengers onboard and a crew," Wally Mariani, Qantas' senior executive vice president, The Americas and Pacific, told AAP today.
LA is a crucial port for Airbus, with 12 A380s expected to land at the airport daily by 2012.
Qantas' first commercial A380 flight is expected to take place in September or October next year, with a flight from Melbourne to LA, Mariani said.
The A380 will fly out of LA tomorrow to Sydney where it will spend a week.
"Our engineers will crawl all over it and our pilots will have a play with it," Mariani said.
The A380 dwarfs the Boeing 747, previously the world's largest passenger jet.
While the double-deck A380, which has a wingspan almost as large as a football field, can carry 850 passengers, Qantas is likely to reconfigure the airliner to seat 500, about 100 more than a 747.
AAP
Just like any good Hollywood event, this one had a touch of controversy.
An arcane, 100-year-old Californian law left LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other LA City Council members on the tarmac waving goodbye as the Qantas Airbus took off for a two-hour test flight over LA to impress the 100 guests and members of the American media who did make it onboard.
"It's a crazy law isn't it," a smiling Villaraigosa said as he walked through the airliner, shaking hands with the passengers, 30 minutes before the plane departed.
"Can you believe it?"
Villaraigosa, who has lobbied for LA to be a major hub for the A380, and the LA Council members were legally required to leave the aircraft after the inspection because of the archaic state law that bars public officials from accepting free transportation.
The law was designed to prevent Californian public officials from accepting free railroad trips in the early 1900s from railway companies soliciting government contracts.
If Villaraigosa, who led a $US120 million refit of the airport to cater for the super jumbo A380, had accepted the free trip on Qantas' Airbus today, he could have been booted out of office.
The drama did not dampen Qantas' enthusiasm for the A380, which is the largest passenger jet in the world.
Veteran Qantas pilot Murray Crockett was in the cockpit for today's demonstration flight over LA that attracted thousands of aviation fanatics who stood on vantage points around the airport to watch the take-off and landing.
A 100-metre long red carpet was rolled out along the tarmac to the 70-metre A380 to welcome the VIP guests, which included TV executives, travel industry leaders and aviation journalists from some of America's most-read newspapers.
Qantas also had a 12-member crew for the flight serving champagne and canapes, including smoked salmon, caviar and crab tostadas, designed by Australian chef Neil Perry.
Qantas and the French-based Airbus first flew an A380 into LA in March, but it did not include passengers or a Qantas crew.
"This is the first time in the US that Qantas has had passengers onboard and a crew," Wally Mariani, Qantas' senior executive vice president, The Americas and Pacific, told AAP today.
LA is a crucial port for Airbus, with 12 A380s expected to land at the airport daily by 2012.
Qantas' first commercial A380 flight is expected to take place in September or October next year, with a flight from Melbourne to LA, Mariani said.
The A380 will fly out of LA tomorrow to Sydney where it will spend a week.
"Our engineers will crawl all over it and our pilots will have a play with it," Mariani said.
The A380 dwarfs the Boeing 747, previously the world's largest passenger jet.
While the double-deck A380, which has a wingspan almost as large as a football field, can carry 850 passengers, Qantas is likely to reconfigure the airliner to seat 500, about 100 more than a 747.
AAP
