Airbus A380 leaves Mojave Air & Spaceport, bound for Glasgow, Scotland

Maurer 8 Photography, Aaron Maurer.

A380 departs Mojave for Montreal and Glasgow, Scotland.

Another first took place at Mojave Air & Space Port on April 30, when an Airbus A380 departed runway 30 bound for Glasgow Prestwick, Scotland. Global Airlines Limited is planning to bring luxury back to air travel by providing maximum customer service and an unconventional flying experience.

The British upstart airline is aiming to start service from London to New York City and Los Angeles this spring using a fleet of four Airbus A380s.

The Airbus A380 is a huge airliner with a super wide body, two full length decks of seating and is the only passenger airliner to offer seating for over 800 people! The aircraft length is 238-feet, 7-inches, the fuselage width is 23-feet, 5-inches and the wingspan is 261-feet, 8-inches. The empty weight of this aircraft is 628,317 pounds and maximum takeoff weight is a whopping 1,267,658 pounds! One million, two hundred sixty seven thousand, six hundred fifty eight pounds!

Powered with four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 turbofan engines that develop an air mass flow of 2,655–2,745 pounds per second. I'm not an engineer and I like to know how much thrust or horsepower, but mass flow of 2,655–2,745 pounds per second sounds impressive. All I know is the engines were so powerful when taking off at Mojave, a couple of signs were blown down and some runway lights were dislocated. Very impressive power, nonetheless!

Another interesting statistic for this enormous flying machine is the fuel capacity. It holds over 70,000 U.S. gallons of fuel. That takes on a whole new meaning when they pull up and say, "Fill 'er up!"

The flight was followed by 40,000 people on Flight Trader 24 Flight Tracker as it crossed the United States to Montreal where they refueled and stayed the night before crossing the Atlantic to Scotland the next day. The flight to Montreal took five hours and 40 minutes from Mojave.

From Montreal they flew directly to Prestwick Airport in Scotland, about 30 miles southwest from Glasgow. It was the first Airbus A380 to ever land there.

Pilot Commander Carlos Mirpuri and a crew of three were pleased with the achievement.

In a press release by Global Airlines, CEO Briton James Asquith, hailed the arrival of its superjumbo in Scotland as "a momentous moment," one that "signaled a significant milestone being reached!"

Glasgow Prestwick Airport CEO Ian Forgie said: "We are delighted to have supported Global with this key stage in their exciting journey."

The press release also stated, The A380, registration number 9H-GLOBL, arrived in Glasgow from Mojave Air and Space Port following two months of technical and engineering assessments. During this time the crew received simulator training.