A380 lands in Jakarta: Instant Experts please SHUT UP!

Singapore Airlines A380-800 9V-SKC in Jakarta on a medical diversion
earlier today. (Photo from Detik.com)

Following on from First A380 landing in Jakarta, Indonesia. 4-May-2012, the airport operator appeared to quickly have jumped on the opportunity to allay public fears and criticism that the airport cannot handle the flying behemoth.

Within hours, poorly informed critics in Indonesia are beginning to mention that the airport's pavement surfaces should be checked to ensure the A380 have left no damage that can pose safety risks.

Airbus have long maintained that runways and taxiways that can handle the Boeing 747-400, should be able to handle the A380, and the only modifications required are at the apron (due to the size) and gate airbridges (to allow use of upper deck doors for boarding/deboarding).

So, what are the facts? Well, first, it would be good to grab some facts.

According to Indonesia's official Aeronautical Information Publication, all taxiways, runways, and aprons at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK/WIII), are rated with the Pavement Classification Number (PCN) 120 R/D/W/T... Let's take the number and the first two letters, R and D (R = Rigid Pavement, D = Subclassification D = CBR 3).

A quick look at Airbus's Airplane Characteristics For Airport Planning document that is available (at http://www.airbus.com/support/maintenance-engineering/technical-data/aircraft-characteristics/). 120 R/D means that the A380 can use the airport (up to 10,000 movements a year), with weights of up to around 590 tons. The maximum design taxi weight for the aircraft is lower, at 571 tons.

Now, if someone wants to throw a fuss about the airport's pavement strength and aircraft operations, perhaps someone should raise concern about Boeing 777-300ER operations (Emirates operate the type DXB-CGK, and Garuda plans to have their 777-300ER delivered in 2nd Quarter 2013). Although it is a smaller aircraft than the A380, pavement load depends on the wheel arrangements of the aircraft. Now, 120 R/D means the 777-300ER is limited to 330 tons, which is lower than the maximum design taxi weight of 352.4 tons! (Data publicly available from Boeing).

Stop fussing! And attention-whoring-poorly-informed-instant-experts, please... SHUT UP!