Singapore Airlines' superjumbo A380 leaves on maiden voyage to Sydney

[Bulldog]

By Gillian Wong, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ON BOARD FLIGHT SQ380 - A Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 took off on a historic journey Thursday - the first commercial flight by the world's largest jetliner that boasts luxurious suites enclosed by sliding doors, double beds, a bar and the quietest interior ever.

With 455 passengers, some of whom paid tens of thousands of dollars for a seat in aviation history, the superjumbo left for Sydney, Australia, at 8:16 a.m. local time on a 7 1/2-hour flight that launched a new era in air travel. Also on board flight SQ380 were a crew of about 30 including four pilots.

Among the passengers was Swedish electronics engineer Ralf Danielsson, who took the first Concorde flight in 1979.
 

"Twenty-eight years later, I thought it would be fun to do something like that again," said Danielsson, 58.

The double-decker A380 ends the nearly 37-year reign of the U.S.-made Boeing 747 jumbojet as the world's most spacious passenger plane. The A380 is also the most fuel-efficient and quietest passenger jet ever built, from inside and outside, said its European manufacturer, Airbus SAS.

It was delivered to Singapore Airlines on Oct. 15, nearly two years behind schedule after billions of dollars in cost overruns for Airbus. Still, the wait was worth it, said Singapore Airlines, which got the exclusivity of being the plane's sole operator for 10 months.

"This is indeed a new milestone in the timeline of aviation," said Chew Choon Seng, chief executive of Singapore Airlines, or SIA, in a speech before the departure.

He said the A380 is "the first totally new big aircraft to be designed and built since the Boeing 747" nearly four decades ago.

Chew, flanked by two flight attendants, greeted passengers with a smile and a nod as they boarded the aircraft, which is as tall as a seven-storey building. Each wing is big enough to hold about 70 mid-sized cars.

The Boeing 747 jumbo jet generally carries about 500 passengers. But the A380 is capable of carrying 853 passengers in an all-economy class configuration.

However, Singapore Airlines, recognized as one of the best in the world, opted for 471 seats in three classes - 12 Singapore Airlines Suites, 60 business class and 399 economy class.

Each suite, enclosed by sliding doors, is fitted with a leather upholstered seat, a table, a 58-centimetre flat-screen TV, laptop connections and a range of office software. A separate bed folds up into the wall. Two of the suites can be joined to provide double beds.

On the upper deck, business class seats can turn into wide flat beds, while the economy class seats on both decks will enjoy more leg and knee room, the carrier said. Business class passengers also have a bar area.

SIA auctioned most of the seats on the inaugural flight on eBay, raising $1.26 million for charity. The highest bidder was Briton Julian Hayward who bought two suite seats for $100,380. He was the first passenger to board.

Officials said the aircraft carried 455 passengers, including 11 in the suites. One suite was left empty for display.

Analysts say with about 70 more seats than the 747, the A380 is set to provide much needed extra capacity and greater efficiency for SIA on the busy Singapore-Sydney route and the Singapore-London route expected to start in February with the delivery of the second plane.

"At the moment, some passengers are having difficulty booking flights on those sectors because there isn't enough capacity," said Leithen Francis, the Singapore-based deputy Asia editor of Air Transport Intelligence, an aviation market information service.

SIA has ordered a total of 19 A380s, hoping to benefit from a recent boom in air travel that has seen global air traffic growing five to 10 per cent a year.

Dubai-based Emirates, Airbus's largest A380 customer with 55 on order, will take its first delivery only in August 2008.