Thousands ogle A380 in Vienna and Linz
Thousands of aviation enthusiasts turned up in Vienna and Linz to get a glimpse of the new Airbus A380 yesterday (Weds).The worlds biggest passenger aircraft landed at Vienna International Airport (VIA) and Linz Airport as part of a Europe-wide test flights session.Around 1,500 airplane fans came to VIA to watch the double-decker plane which made its maiden flight in 2005 land and take-off in the morning in thunderous rainfall, before a further few hundred gathered in Linz in the afternoon.Travel agencies organised a shuttle service from the centres of Vienna and Linz to the airports located outside the cities.The plane, which provides seating for 525 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 853 people in all-economy class configurations, will transport passengers for the first time this Sunday (6 June) when Germanys football national team heads for the World Cup in South Africa.Pilots of German aviation company Lufthansa which took over Austrian Airlines (AUA) last September also landed the 73-metre-long A380 at Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Munich airports among other destinations. Lufthansa ordered 15 A380 types.