a plane on the runway

Chateauroux Airport Taxiway Gave In Due to BA A380 Weight

Today a Chateauroux Airport taxiway gave in due to the weight of a British Airways Airbus A380.

Around 10:30 local time a BA A380, with registration G-XLED, landed in Chateauroux Airport, France for long-term storage. After this, the aircraft was parked on the taxiway along with other BA A380’s that had already arrived days before.

In the images provided by @airline_kitty, it is possible to see that meanwhile taxiing to its parking stand on a taxiway the BA A380 sank into the pavement resulting in damage.

This probably happened due to the number of big airplanes, like the A380, stored on the same taxiway or close by. An A380 has an Operating Empty Weight (EOW) of 277 tonnes.

https://twitter.com/airline_kitty/status/1250497799046774793?s=20

Currently, seven of the 12 British Airways Airbus A380 fleet are parked at Chateauroux Airport, due to the low demand caused by COVID-19. These A380’s have the following registrations: G-XLEA, G-XLEC, G-XLED, G-XLEF, G-XLEI, G-XLEJ and G-XLEL.

In the following video it is possible to see BA A380’s in storage:

News in development

Feature Image courtesy of Airline Kitty by various source