Georgia May Jagger starts the race with Bryan Habana and British Airways_ A380 01 Aug 2013
Man Vs Plane: Bryan Habana Takes On British Airways' New A380 Superjumbo
British Airways

South African Rugby player, Bryan Habana, pushed himself to new heights as he went up against British Airways' brand new superjumbo, the Airbus A380.

Habana, who famously raced the cheetah in 2007 to save them from extinction, took on a new challenge racing British Airways' 'new animal' in a 100m race.

Weighing in at 95kg with a height of 1,80m, Habana is pictured preparing to race British Airways' superjumbo of 366,000kg, with a height of 24m, a wingspan of 80m and 73m in length. Model, Georgia May Jagger was on hand to start the race.

Bryan Habana, South African rugby player, said: "'It was a tough test of man versus machine. Once the A380 is on full throttle it picks up speed very
rapidly, but you need to tune in to the video to see what happened next..."

Peter Nye, Senior First Officer A380, said: '' Habana is fast but had stiff competition with four Trent 900 Rolls-Royce engines, each one producing 70,000 pounds of thrust and accelerating very quickly indeed. We got airborne at 140 miles an hour, where we then flew up to 600 miles an hour.''

Watch the race and see if man really can run faster than a plane: http://youtu.be/P66ISniQCqY#manvsplane

Bryan Habana raced British Airways' A380 in celebration that customers can now book onto the A380 to fly to Johannesburg from February 12, 2014. The airline will initially operate three A380 services a week to South Africa's financial capital. This will increase from March 10, 2014 to six flights per week. These flights will be part of the airline's normal schedule to Johannesburg.

 

 

Notes to editors: 

 

 

For further media information please contact:

 

Andrew Baber

Fleishman-Hillard

P: (02) 9025 9286

E: andrew.baber@fleishman.com.au

 

About British Airways

 

  • British Airways has a worldwide route network that covers more than 150 destinations in 75 countries
  • British Airways operates a daily flight from Sydney to London via Singapore's Changi Airport, the World's Best Airport as announced at the 2013 World Airport Awards
  • British Airways operates 14 return services per week between Hong Kong and London
  • British Airways operates 14 return services per week between Singapore and London
  • British Airways operates a daily return service between Bangkok and London
  • In August 2009, British Airways celebrated its 90th anniversary. The airline has carried more than 1.2 billion customers on its extensive network and is recognised as one of the world's elite carriers
  • British Airways is one of the world's largest international airlines carrying approximately 36 million customers around the world every year
  • British Airways has been operating in Australia for 77 years Australian flights operate from the multi-million pound refurbished Terminal 5, British
    Airways' home at Heathrow that is capable of handling 30 million customers a year
  • In September 2012, British Airways was recognised as "Best Airline" by readers of Business Traveller. The airline also took home "Best Business Class" and "Best Frequent Flyer Programme"
  • In May 2013, Heathrow T5 was ranked by Skytrax as the World's Best Airport Terminal for the second year running, based on surveys of 12 million frequent travellers. T5 also won the World's Best Airport Shopping award 
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Georgia May Jagger starts the race with Bryan Habana and British Airways_ A380
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