A special one-off Emirates flight to Colombo in Sri Lanka became the first commercial A380 visit the island's airport on Monday, helping Sri Lanka and the airport achieve an aviation milestone. Arranged to celebrate the BIA's recently resurfaced and upgraded runway, the special one-off A380 flight operated as EK654 from Dubai, replacing the B777 aircraft usually deployed by Emirates on flights to Sri Lanka.

Minister of Transport and Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva was at the airport to greet UAE Ambassador to Sri Lanka Abdul Hameed Abdul Fattah Kazhim Al-Mulla, and the Emirates' representatives. Welcoming guests on behalf of Emirates at a reception in the airport premises Emirates representative Ahmed Khoory said they maintain strong relationship with Sri Lanka. For the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), this event signals that it is ‘A380-ready.

The one-off Emirates A380 flight got the traditional water cannon salute on its arrival with 576 passengers at Bandaranaike International Airport. The world's largest passenger jet was on ground for more than six hours.

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by European manufacturer Airbus. The superjumbo was piloted by a Lankan pilot, Udaya Thilakaratne.

This is how the inside of the aircraft looks like: