Voyagius

@ wikipedia commons

Emirates Flight EK 201 from Dubai to JFK had to make an emergency landing in Munich, Germany on August 10th. On board was a 9 year old girl so critically ill that the aircraft had to make this unforseen stopover. The girl was rushed by helicopter to a medical facility, where, sadly enough, she passed away a couple of hours later. Although minor discrepancies exist as to the medical assistance provided to this little patient, this is not the reason for this posting.

The handling of the airbus A 380 requires specific equipment and docking capacities, with which the airport in Munich, having already been the host to publicity visits of the A 380 and future hub for Lufthansa A 380 aircraft,  is equipped. However most (international) airports are not equipped for this mega aircraft yet and this probably reduces the possibilities for emergency landings of this kind of aircraft. Something to think about? So far only Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Emirates fly the A 380. This particular aircraft was only handed over to Emirates 2 weeks ago.

Emergeny landings generally are a costly matter. In a generous mood, the airport decided that the expenses, amounting to an undisclosed  5 digit € figure would not be passed on to the family or the airline. Unusual indeed but the airport can probably use the publicity.

source: tz online (German only)