By Skies Magazine | June 20, 2014 Estimated reading time 1 minute, 23 seconds.
On June 19, 2014, British Airways made its first Airbus A380 visit to Toronto Lester B. Pearson International Airport. The airline’s A380 had suffered a ‘minor technical issue’ – reportedly plumbing related – and diverted to Toronto on its ‘Speedbird 282’ route from Los Angeles to London Heathrow. The British Airways flight was assigned to one of only two A380 configured gates at Terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson. British Airways normally uses Terminal 3, as does Korean Airlines and Air France. Both of the latter airlines had previously each flown an A380 diversion to Pearson, however in both cases they were not gated, rather refueled on the Cargo West ramp Gate 501. Emirates is Toronto Pearson’s only scheduled A380 operator with three flights a week from Dubai. Speedbird 282 refueled and resumed its leg to London Heathrow. After crossing the Atlantic, the flight ran out of flight crew duty hours, and had to land at Shannon Airport in Ireland. The passengers were disembarked and bussed off of the airport. British Airways has six A380s, and three more on order.
