Air France brings A380 to Paris

Air France brought its first Airbus A380 to Paris on November 22nd, docking it in a new hangar at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

The hangar was specifically designed to enable maintenance of Airbus A380 aircraft in the Air France fleet.

Covering an area of 25,800 square metres, the hangar took 24 months to build and required 455,000 hours of work.

After the new plane was towed into the facility, compatibility tests were carried out on maintenance equipment, the body, the upper deck and other areas, all of which gave satisfactory results.

It is hoped that, following the successful compatibility tests, Air France should be able to receive its first A380 for commercial use before the end of 2009.

From its Paris hub, Air France offers flights to hundreds of destinations around the world.

In the year ending March 31st 2008, the airline transported nearly 75,000 passengers, more than two thirds of whom caught flights in and around Europe.

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