It wasn’t love at first flight for aviation superfan Arun Rajagopal and the Airbus A380. The turning point came on his fourth journey aboard the world’s largest passenger plane, flying business class to Singapore. “The seats were huge, and you have a bar in the back of the plane,” he said. It gave him a “wow” feeling, like “experiencing comfort on another level.” Soon, he was flying A380s as often as possible. So far he’s clocked 220 times and counting, covering roughly 715,000 miles across six continents, according to CNN. In recent years, he has brought the A380 experience into his own Dubai apartment as well. He has two first-class seats from Emirates’ first A380, first-class cabin lamps, and an A380 wheel upcycled into a coffee table. The pièce de résistance, however, is the meticulously restored and customized living-room from The Residence – Etihad Airways’ luxurious three-room private suite – which he spent a year constructing in his living room. The Airbus A340-600 broke records as the world’s longest passenger plane when it was launched in 2002, but for most of the decades it’s been flying, it’s been a commercial flop. Its four engines are thirsty and its 247-foot-long fuselage requires special runway clearance. On top of this, its quirky design includes a downstairs lavatory tucked away in space usually reserved for cargo – which apparently has made it a tempting proposition for would-be members of the Mile-High Club. While it never was a hit with the airline industry, the Airbus A340-600 has a strong cult following among aviation fans and aircrews, many of whom turned out at Washington Dulles International Airport this month to see the arrival of a flight that would mark the end of German carrier Lufthansa’s relationship with the aircraft.
