This is the Press Release I got today from SAC:
The first A380 flight on the Sydney-Auckland route will be made on Monday by Emirates flight EK412.
This is an important milestone as it is the first A380 flight on Sydney’s most popular international route. Last year more than 1.2 million passengers flew between Sydney and Auckland, accounting for more than 11% of Sydney Airport’s international travellers.
Sydney Airport has congratulated Emirates on its achievement in making the historic first flight of an A380 from Sydney to Auckland and the CEO of Sydney Airport, Russell Balding, welcomed the fact that this aircraft is just one of the fifty A380s that Emirates will be flying.
“The introduction of the A380 into commercial service across the Tasman is a great achievement, and I congratulate Emirates on flying the A380 on this very popular route.
“The fact that Emirates is acquiring 50 A380s means that while today’s historic flight represents a new first in aviation across the Tasman, there will be many more A380 flights from Sydney Airport in the years ahead.
“The A380 is good news for Sydney because it means quieter flights. The A380 has new-generation engines and advanced wing and landing gear design which produce less noise and air emissions than other large aircraft.
“The significance of the A380 is that it can carry more passengers than other aircraft meaning that fewer and quieter A380 flights are required to transport the same number of passengers,” Mr Balding said.
The Australian Government agency Airservices Australia has released a report showing that the A380 is between 2.3 and 6.7 decibels quieter than the 747-400 when departing Sydney Airport.
The report states that “a three decibel reduction is regarded as a halving of an aircraft’s noise energy.”
In fact, the Emirates A380 has attracted complaints that it is too quiet.
Sydney Airport has invested $120 million in upgrading aviation infrastructure including new aerobridges and strengthening the main runway to accommodate the A380.
Emirates becomes the third airline, after Singapore Airlines and Qantas, to fly the new A380 to and from Sydney Airport and the first to do so on the most important gateway into New Zealand.
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