A380 flies across HK harbour in bid to drum up sales

An Airbus A380 cruised past Hong Kong's famed skyline twice today in a bid to drum up sales in Asia for the world's largest passenger jet after having a slight mishap in Bangkok on Saturday.

The giant aircraft arrived in Hong Kong late Sunday, a day after it scraped its wing on an airport building in Bangkok.

Cruising at 300m and carrying a small crew, the jet flew over Hong Kong's Tsing Ma bridge before crossing Victoria Harbor, where it passed the 420m high Two IFC, Hong Kong's tallest building. It then looped in Hong Kong airspace before repeating the fly-by over the harbour.

The picturesque flight was helped by blue skies, a break from Hong Kong's often smoggy air due in part to pollution blown in from neighboring mainland China.

The wide-body, 555-seat plane is visiting Hong Kong to coincide with the Asian Aerospace 2007 air show, which runs from today to Thursday.

In Bangkok on Saturday, the plane scraped a wing tip on a hangar at Suvarnabhumi Airport while taxiing in preparation for a demonstration flight. Officials said the hangar's door hadn't been designed for the plane's unusually long wing-span.

The A380 had already visited more than 45 airports worldwide by late-August, and more than 70 airports will be ready for the plane by 2011. The plane has already been to Hong Kong twice, once in November to test the city's airport facilities and in March as part of a promotional tour.

Hong Kong's airport spent US$13 million on modifications, including widening taxiways and upgrading parking stands, to accommodate the A380.

Fourteen customers have placed orders for 173 A380s, with clients including Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airlines and Qantas.

Airbus is scheduled to deliver its first A380 to Singapore Airlines on October 15, a delay of more than a year due to production problems.

The plane will fly to South Korea on Wednesday to complete its Asian tour before returning to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France.