Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport: 13 hours UTC.
Looking at the calendar, 25 March 2021, there is nothing to indicate that today could be a special day.
However, a group of airport employees are gathered on the terrace of Terminal T3. Others are gathered near the aircraft apron, and also at the gates of the fire station.
Beyond the perimeter fence, dozens of people in Churriana and San Julián are also scanning the horizon.
Our sky is still as blue as yesterday, but once again its ethereal nature has been the stage for the new adventurers of the 21st century, who, like a century ago, are those who, dreaming of the sky, carry on their wings the development of the society they serve.
All of them are more than familiar with the comings and goings of aircraft, more than 120,000 used the Malaga airport in 2019. However, in this unique year, the airport's runways are much emptier, even deserted.
On the spectators' mobile equipment, a yellow trace shows them the route of the aircraft they are waiting for.
Faithful to the indications of digital technology, little by little a tiny dot appears on the horizon of the blue Malaga spring sky.
Dozens of eyes are fixed on him.
It advances slowly, stately, majestic.
After a few minutes of waiting, the giant Airbus 380 crosses the airport sky for the first time. Its livery is in the colours of the European manufacturer Airbus, and its number plate is an onomatopoeia of the surprise it causes in those who admire it from the ground: F-WWOW.
One hundred and two years and sixteen days earlier, a dozen people from Malaga were also scanning the sky waiting to see the strange aircraft that had arrived from Alicante by telegram a few hours earlier.
In the same way, a tiny dot above Gibralfaro announced their arrival, and minutes later they were perplexed when a biplane Salmson 2.A.2 perched on the wasteland of El Rompedizo.
On both occasions the planes arrived from Toulouse.
On both occasions they have flown over the almost 1,000 kilometres that separate the two cities, guided by the warm Mediterranean coastline.
On both occasions, their journey is the result of the enthusiasm and effort of a group of international air transport dreamers.
The Airbus that now flies over Malaga airport is 10 times longer than the Salmson. It has eight times the wingspan and is capable of carrying 430 times the weight of the original biplane.
From the two occupants of the first, we have moved on to the 850 people who can travel in the second.
But while the Airbus and the Salmson may seem to belong to two different realities, they have the same essence.
It is about aerodynes devised by human ingenuity, dedicated to transporting people, linking distant cities, overcoming mountains, bridging seas and oceans.
Rarely has technology been more at the service of society than in air transport. Rarely has mankind been more united than when viewed from the sky.
At 33,000 feet, from the windows of our modern jets, borders are no longer visible, and we all look much more alike.
The arrival of the A380 has highlighted the great transformation of aviation technology in its short century of existence, and whose development continues to mark one of the frontiers of human knowledge.
These days, a rotary-winged craft will take to the skies over Mars.
An airfield measuring just 10 by 10 metres is now ready on the red planet.
And the route is also already marked: just a few metres just a few centimetres from the Martian soil.
Not much more than the Wright brothers' flight on Earth on 17 December 1903.
But our history is much closer today.
After several passes over runway 13/31 for the calibration of the new satellite system that supports 21st century air navigation, the giant A-380 slightly swayed its wings, waving to all those who admired its flight from the ground, and from Malaga it headed back to Toulouse, cities that are once again united by the magical and invisible wake of air transport.
Today, our sky is still as blue as it was yesterday, but once again its ethereal nature has been the stage for the new adventurers of the 21st century, The people who, as they did a century ago, are those who, dreaming of the sky, carry on their wings the development of the society they serve.
Malaga, early spring 2021.
