The first Filipino pilot who steered the first Airbus A380 commercial flight from Dubai to Manila had a sentimental journey as he landed the plane nice and smooth at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Tuesday night.
On his maiden trip as pilot of Emirates Flight A380, Desiderio urged aviation authorities to study how the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) can regularly accommodate huge aircrafts on its runway.Captain Frank Desiderio who has roots in Meycauayan, Bulacan, is based in Dubai for almost a decade now. He last piloted a Manila-bound plane in 2006.
While NAIA’s runway is long and wide enough to accommodate an A380, the airport limits aircraft movement, Desiderio noticed.
“The runway technically is long and wide enough. But when we were approaching for landing, they cannot let bigger airplanes taxi with us on the runway or vice versa. They cannot allow an A380 aircraft on the runway and a big airplane on the taxiway,” Desiderio said in an interview at NAIA Terminal 3.
A taxiway is a path on an airport connecting runways with ramps, hangars, terminals and other facilities.
“I think that if they make further study, an A380 can easily make a safe landing or takeoff while an A320 is on the taxiway. If they squeeze it , it can work,” the 41-year-old pilot said.
Nevertheless, Desiderio claimed that the A380’s approach to NAIA was “great” and the landing was “nice.” The Emirates Airbus A380 made its maiden flight to Manila past 10 p.m. last Tuesday to mark the airline’s move to NAIA Terminal 3 from Terminal 1.
Emirates began flights between Dubai and Manila in 1990. The airline company currently deploys thrice daily flights from Manila and Dubai due to “consistently strong” passenger and cargo demand.
“Tonight we proved that we can operate an A380 aircraft in and out of Manila. My only suggestion is (for airport officials) to give more time to study the A380 operations, the limitations and the combination of A380 with other traffic,”
Desiderio noted.
Desiderio noted.
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