CHENNAI: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will soon commission a dedicated parking bay for 555-seater Airbus-380 jets.

"The Chennai airport is one of the designated airports to handle the super jumbos and parking bay number 35 has been exclusively constructed to accommodate the wide-bodied jets," Dinesh Kumar, Chennai Airport Director, told The Hindu here on Tuesday.

The airport registered 29 per cent growth in domestic passengers and 9 per cent growth in international traffic for two consecutive years (2004-05/2005-06). A passenger lounge, "Airbus-lounge" will be ready before the super jumbo lands in Chennai.

The AAI constructed the parking bay following specific requests from foreign carriers that offer non-stop services. Singapore Airlines (SIA) is the launch customer for Airbus-380s. The airliner has daily operations between Chennai and Singapore.

The double-decker Airbus-380 is equipped with four engines. It is 73-metre-long with a wingspan of 79.8 metre and 24.1-metre-tall. It has a maximum range of 15,000 km with a cruising speed of 0.85 Mach.

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