S. Africa ready to welcome superjumbo A380

South Africa is ready to accommodate the world's largest commercial aircraft, the Airbus A380, which will arrive in Johannesburg on Sunday as part of its global tour to test its airworthiness, the country's airport authorities said.

Runways and taxiways at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport have been widened, and new contact aircraft stands are constructed to accommodate the superjumbo A380, the airport's general manager Chris Hlekani said.

The 555-seat, double-dech test aircraft, which cost around 230 million dollars, is scheduled to arrive Johannesburg at 8 a.m. ( 0600 GMT) on Sunday from Toulouse in France and undertake a series of test flights, refuelling, and other exercises during that day, before departing for Sydney, Australia, the next morning.

The Business Day newspaper reported on Friday that 100 million rand (14 million U.S. dollars) has been invested in the airport's runways and taxiways, making the runway 60 m wide with 7 m paved shoulders on either side of the runway.

Taxiways had also been widened to 30 m, Hlekani said.

Other preparations include the construction of nine contact aircraft stands, four of which have been specifically built to accommodate the A380.

"The four stands will be equipped with dual air bridges to load and offload passengers to both the upper and lower decks of the aircraft simultaneously," said Hlekani.

South Africa is reportedly the only African stop for the much- expected test flight of the A380, which is 73 m long and has a wingspan of 79.8 m. Its height is 24.1 m and its fuselage is 7.14 m in diameter.

OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airport will be the only airports in South Africa that will be reconfigured to accommodate the A380, Business Day said.

South Africa has allocated 5.2 billion rand (720 million dollars) to upgrade 10 airports around the country by 2009, ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Source: Xinhua