World’s largest aircraft lands at Islamabad Airport

Islamabad: The Emirates A380 touched down in Islamabad for a historic one-off service to Islamabad International Airport. This was the first time ever that the iconic double-decker aircraft landed in Pakistan.

The landing demonstrated the airport’s readiness to accommodate the A380, the world’s largest commercial passenger test.

With the landing of the special Emirates A380 flight, the new Islamabad International Airport also passed acid test requirements required to facilitate the biggest aircraft in terms capacity of passenger was operated by UAE national, Capt Abbas Shaban, Chief Pilot of Technical Operations and Pakistani national, First Officer Qadir Moin.

The special flight, operating as EK 2524, was joined by a VIP delegation led Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Centre, Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al Zaabi, the UAE Ambassador to Pakistan and Moazzam Ahmad Khan, Pakistan Ambassador to the UAE.

Caretaker Minister for Aviation and Defence Lt. General (retd) Khalid Naeem Lodhi who was chief guest on the occasion, pointed that the landing of Air Bus A380, also proved capability of the new International Airport of welcoming any kind of aircraft. Director General Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)

Also travelling on the flight as special guests were two Pakistani members of Emirates’ first ever team, Captain Fazle Ghani, the airline’s first Chief Pilot and Team Lead for Inaugural Operations and Captain Ejaz ul Haq, one of the pilots who operated the first ever Emirates flights from Dubai 33 years ago.

Upon landing at 1210hrs at Islamabad International Airport, the aircraft was met with a ceremonial water cannon salute, and the Emirates delegation was welcomed by government officials and Islamabad International Airport executives. After a welcoming ceremony, government officials, VIPs, media and members of the travel industry were given a guided tour of the A380 by Emirates cabin crew.

Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Centre said: “We are proud to have operated this special A380 flight to Islamabad, the first time ever that our flagship aircraft has landed in Pakistan.