Big News for Alumnus in France

An ERAU Alumnus been among the first pilots in the world to fly the brand-new Airbus A-380 Super Jumbo.

Captain Suren Ratwatte (’83, PC; ’99, WW) flew the prototype aircraft registered as F-WWDD out of the Airbus home airfield in Toulouse France on June 18th as part of the Initial Operating Experience for the first batch of Emirates Airlines pilots to fly the A-380. The A-380 will commence revenue service with Emirates on August 1st on the DXB-JFK non-stop flight.

Suren has been with Emirates since 1989, having flown the Airbus A-300, A-310, A-330, A-340 and the B-777 for the company. He was also the Human Factors Manager before returning to line flying for family reasons.

Suren hopes to be on the Prescott Campus for Octoberwest this year, which will mark 25 years since his graduation. He hopes to see a few others from the Class of 1983 there.