Airbus Give Seal of Approval to TBL600
08 November 2007
Following successful completion of NTO tests with the Douglas Kalmar TBL600 towbarless aircraft handling tractor and the Airbus A380 in Toulouse in December 2006 in co-operation with Airbus Industrie, the Douglas Kalmar TBL600 has now been formally approved by Airbus for pushback, inter-gate and higher speed maintenance towing operations with the Airbus A380/A380F aircraft.
The TBL600 is now formally qualified for handling the complete range of Airbus aircraft from A310/A300 up to and including A380/A380F.
The first Douglas Kalmar TBL600 entered operational service in January 2005 with DNATA, the ground handling subsidiary of Emirates Airlines in Dubai. As a result of the successful introduction of the TBL600 into their operation DNATA now currently have four TBL600s in service.
