Airbus A380 Touchdown Conference

Organised by International Airport Review, the A380 Touchdown Conference will bring together the most influential figures from the world of aviation to discuss the greatest development in the industry for over 35 years. Indeed, the Airbus A380's launch into commercial service will mark the beginning of a new era in air travel. Hosted by Dubai International Airport, A380 Touchdown will focus not only on the technical issues, but also the business aspects facing the world's airports and airlines in preparation for the commercial launch of the first New Large Aircraft (NLA).

Airbus A380 Ground Support Systems

As part of the official sponsorship of this event by Cavotec MSL, Mr. Michael Widegren, Group Vice President and Managing Director of Cavotec Fladung will take part as one of the key-note speakers of the conference. He will speak on the challenges and advances that have been made, and are still to be made regarding the A380 project with regards to ground support equipment and their role in minimising negative environmental and economic impact. Cavotec Fladung, an engineering centre of excellence of Cavotec MSL and specialised in designing and manufacturing ground support equipment, was quick to realise the considerable consequences the A380 would have on existing ground support systems.

Breaking with traditional thinking Cavotec Fladung engineers were one of the first to design a complete range of ground support equipment solutions for the A380. With regards to Dubai, thanks to the excellent professional relationship between Cavotec Middle East and Dubai Civil Aviation (DCA) the merit of this project has been realised by Dubai Airport which has adopted Cavotec Fladung systems as part of their A380 readiness programme. Indeed, the new Concourse 2 at Dubai Airport was the very first airport to develop dedicated A380 gates by fully integrating Cavotec's pop-up systems for the A380 aircraft.

Pre-conditioned Air for Large Aircraft Cooling

Besides a large range of ground support equipment which includes systems such as pop-up and hatch type pits, towbars, aircraft connectors and cable coils, a substantial amount of the company's focus is directed into finding new efficient and environmentally friendly ways to supply aircraft with essential services while parked at the gate. Recent progress has also been made in the development of the PCA Caddy. This unit stands to revolutionise the manner in which pre-conditioned air (PCA) is supplied to the parked aircraft as it does not need any type of diesel generator. During extensive testing the PCA Caddy has proven itself to be the only unit capable of sufficiently cooling large aircraft, such as the Boeing 777 and Airbus A340/A330, in extremely hot climates.

Aircraft A380 Servicing Tunnel System

Another important part of the company's product range is the Tunnel System. This system is based on the concept of providing all necessary services to the aircraft from below the apron tarmac. By connecting through pop-up or hatch type systems positioned close to the aircraft, the remainder of the tarmac is kept totally free for other airport traffic. Furthermore, the proximity of the services means that no time is lost when an aircraft comes in to the gate, thereby reducing even further the expected turnaround time. Another important aspect is of course that no equipment installed within the Tunnel System needs any type of diesel generator, thereby drastically reducing any pollution linked to the servicing of aircraft.