Munich airport installs ingenious hangar doors to accommodate Airbus A380

The custom-made doors enable the aircraft’s tail to stick out

Munich airport has come up with an ingenious scheme for fitting the world’s largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, into its existing aircraft hangar.

The German airport recently unveiled its new hangar doors, which come complete with a custom-made hole so that the 238ft-long aircraft’s tail can stick out while the doors are closed.

Prior to the new doors, which weigh 20 tons and took a month to construct, the hangar had to be left open to the elements when maintenance work was being done on the Airbus jets, meaning mechanics and other workers would be subject to freezing conditions.

Munich Airport's new doors perfectly fit the Airbus A380 (Munich Airport)

Now, the rail-mounted gates fit around the tail perfectly; an airport spokesperson said the hole fits snugly around the plane, blocking chilly draughts.

The gap leaves 6.6ft of the tail outside, but the spokesperson said this should not cause any damage to the planes – they are built to withstand low temperatures of up to -60°C.

A video released by the airport shows the 72ft-high and 36ft-wide doors in action. Captioned “This butt is our definition of perfect,” the clip uploaded to Munich’s Facebook page has been watched more than 32,000 times at the time of writing.

The Airbus A380 aircraft is 79ft high and 261ft wide, weighing in at 589 tons. It’s big enough to pack in more than 850 passengers if an airline requested an economy class-only arrangement.

When it was first unveiled over a decade ago, airports had to adapt to accommodate this mammoth jet. Runways were widened and parking bays extended, while larger boarding lounges, longer baggage carousels and gates providing at least two bridges to the plane – one for each deck – were also required.

However, at the beginning of this year it looked like the end of the line for the A380 when Airbus announced it was ending production after receiving no new orders for two years.

Emirates stepped in and saved the jet from extinction at the last-minute, confirming an order for 20 aircraft, with an option for 16 more, at the end of January.