Global Traveler celebrated the 12th year of its prestigious GT Tested Reader Survey awards and fifth consecutive year of hosting the event at The Peninsula Beverly Hills in high style, with a scenic rooftop location and an exciting partnership with Airbus. Winner of Best Aircraft Type for its renowned A380, Airbus supported the special event as the lead sponsor and raffled a timepiece, a scale model of an A380 and a grand prize trip for two with business-class airfare to Toulouse, France.

Lucky winner Kirsten Schmidt, public relations USA/Canada, visitBerlin, took home the grand prize and traveled with her husband, Andreas Kanonenberg, to Toulouse to tour the A380 final assembly line. Kanonenberg, an independent TV producer, journalist and aviation buff, shares their unique experience with Global Traveler.

In Airbus A380 Heaven

By Andreas Kanonenberg

© Airbus

I’m fortunate in that I get to travel on the Airbus A380 regularly, but nothing prepared me for the experience of an Air France business-class round-trip flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Paris (CDG) and on to Toulouse to visit the Airbus A380 final assembly line earlier this year. My wife (who’d won the trip, although she swears she never wins anything!) gave me the greatest Christmas gift ever by taking me along.

I’m a serious aircraft enthusiast, but apart from just being enthralled by the A380, flying on it has already had a big impact, for I’m well over 6 feet tall. It’s nearly impossible for me to get comfortable on any airplane, especially when I’m seated by the window. On the A380, I have no such trouble — I just get up and ease out of my row because the fuselage doesn’t curve inward the way it does on every other aircraft. But it’s not just the overall feel of the airy and exceptionally quiet cabin — the wider aisles, the spacious lavatories (where I can actually stand upright!) and the well-designed interior make all the difference. The Air France personnel on the ground at LAX were incredibly friendly, and the service provided by the cabin crew was superb.

After some sightseeing in picturesque Toulouse, our visit to the Airbus A380 final assembly line proved the unforgettable experience I’d hoped it would be. Manufacture of the A380 is a pan-European endeavor with aircraft parts built in various European countries and brought to Toulouse for final assembly. The sheer size of the 38-acre A380 facility is breathtaking — at any given time, four of these mega liners are being assembled side by side. In the two spotless hangars we watched the highly trained construction crews leaving absolutely nothing to chance. The highlight for me: admittance onto the awe-inspiring construction jig (hardhat and all!), including getting up close with a British Airways A380 just days shy of delivery. This was the inner sanctum where normally no mere mortals, except clients, are allowed to tread.

After seeing the meticulous care and ingenuity it takes to build an A380, flying back to the States made us look at this amazing aircraft in a whole new light.