DECEMBER 2006
Merry Christmas... and a happy and prosperous New Year to all!
A380 Wraps Up Certification Flights With A Landing At Vancouver
n November 29, the 555-seat Airbus A380 made its only North American stop at Vancouver International Airport. The visit by the world’s largest commercial airliner was part of a series of four certification flights for the aircraft. The exercise took the A380 across the globe on an 18-day trip, stopping at 10 airports. During the trials, the aircraft, which was operated by Airbus flight crews, flew approximate-
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ly 127,788 kilometres in some 152-flight hours with all flights performed on schedule. The technical route proving started on November 13, with landings at Singapore and Seoul, Korea. The second trip included visits to Hong Kong and Narita, Japan. On the third trip, the aircraft visited Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai in Mainland China. The fourth and final journey included a
Frontier Airlines Launches Denver-Vancouver Service rontier Airlines will launch daily non-stop service between its Denver International Airport hub and Vancouver International Airport beginning May 5, 2007. Passengers traveling from Vancouver will have access to convenient connections to 22 Frontier cities throughout the U.S. as well as four of the airline’s eight Mexican destinations—Cancun, PuertoVallarta, Cabo San Lucas and
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Guadalajara in the winter. For passengers travelling from Denver, the new service will begin just in time for the peak cruise season between Vancouver and Alaska. “Vancouver and Denver are both vibrant cities with stunning mountain views, thriving business communities and plenty of activities for business and leisure travellers,” said John Happ, senior vice presi-
SEE FRONTIER AIRLINES, PAGE 3
round-the-world trip via both poles with stops in South Africa, Australia and Canada. At each destination, the A380 performed as expected, demonstrating that it can be turned around as per normal airline operations. Checks were made on standard maintenance and behaviour, as well as typical airport operations and compatibility. This included the monitoring of functions such as SEE A380 SUPERJUMBO,
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FOD Radar System Another First For YVR
VR is the first commercial airport in the world to install and operate the Tarsier Foreign Object Debris (FOD) radar detection system. FOD as small and seemingly innocuous as a broken wheel from a suitcase, a bolt, or a discarded plastic bag can cause potentially serious damage to an aircraft. “We are proud to be the first airport in the world to utilize a high-tech solution for runway debris detection,” said Brett Patterson, director, operations safety and planning, Vancouver International Airport Authority. “QinetiQ’s innovative Tarsier system
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SEE RADAR SYSTEM,
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Celebrate The Season With YVR Vote For Your Favourite Tree And Win A $250 Shopping Spree see page 7
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Cell Phone Rentals Call * YVR is the international aeronautical designation for Vancouver International Airport.
604-671-4655