On Board Flight SQ380: A Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 took off on a historic journey on Thursday — the first commercial flight by the world's largest jetliner, which boasts luxurious suites enclosed by sliding doors, double beds, a bar and the quietest interior of any plane.
With 455 passengers, some of whom paid tens of thousands of dollars for a seat in aviation history, the superjumbo left Singapore for Sydney at 8.16 am on a 7 1/2-hour flight that launches a new era in air travel. Also on board flight SQ380 are 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 US-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, according to its European manufacturer, Airbus SAS.
It was delivered to Singapore Airlines on October 15, nearly two years behind schedule after billions of dollars in cost overruns for Airbus. Still, the wait was worth it, says 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-story 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, recognised 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 23-inch 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 says. 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 that 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 5 to 10 per cent a year.
Dubai-based Emirates, Airbus' largest A380 customer with 55 on order, will take its first delivery only in August 2008.
Still, not all analysts are convinced that the plane, which has a list price of $320 million, will be a success.
"I see there's some demand for the A380, but it's an expensive way to address a small market," said Standard & Poor's Equity Research analyst Shukor Yusof.
Shukor said the market was set to be dominated by mid-sized, long haul two-engine aircraft such as the rival Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which offers greater fuel efficiency than four-engine jets of the same size.
He pointed out that orders for the 787 have exceeded 700. The A380 has received 165 orders to date.
DPA reports:
The world's biggest commercial jetliner, the Airbus A380, embarked Thursday on a history-making flight to Sydney after production setbacks caused an 18-month delay.
The Singapore Airlines (SIA) super-jumbo took to the skies at 8.16 a.m. from Changi Airport with 471 passengers from 35 countries who were the lucky bidders in an online auction that raised $1.3 million for charity.
Of Thursday's passengers Thomas Lee and his wife and daughter from California, Thomas had also been on the first Boeing 747 commercial flight from New York to London.
"I was only 17 at the time," said Lee, 55, who could not resist the opportunity to be aboard "landmark flights in different generations".
"We've over the moon," his wife added.
SIA, the first carrier to fly the jetliner, selected a configuration of 12 passengers in the all-new "beyond first class suites", 60 in business class and 399 in economy to assure that those in the least expensive section have more legroom than on other flights.
A specially created champagne brunch was whipped up for those in all classes with culinary creations from two of SIA's panel of chefs.
The suites are each equipped with a bed, 58 cm flat-panel television, working table and reclining chairs. Drinks for the maiden flight included "some of the world's finest wines", SIA said. Among them was an award-winning Dom Perignon Rose 1996.
Since the airline flew the plane on Sep 17 to Changi Airport from Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, tests and trials have been carried out.
"More than simply a big aeroplane, the newest industry flagship will change forever the way the industry operates," said Peter Harbison, managing director of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.
Singapore's national carrier is the first to fly the jetliner, but 16 other airlines worldwide have ordered 189 A380s, which can each carry more than 500 passengers in a three-class configuration, an increase of more than 100 passengers over rival Boeing's 747.
The seven-and-a-half-hour maiden flight is scheduled to arrive at Sydney Airport to a welcoming ceremony. The plane will return Friday to Singapore and start regular service on the route.
The largest group aboard were Australians constituting 28 percent, followed by Singaporeans at 14 percent, Britons at 11 percent and US citizens at eight percent.
Australian Georg Burdicek, who paid $560 for an economy seat, held the distinction of forking over the least during the two-week auction.
Burdicek, a 25-year-old engineer, said being on the A380's first commercial flight was an "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity.
The top bidder was Julian Hayward, 38, a Briton living in Sydney, who paid more than $100,000 for a pair of first-class suites.
The oldest passenger was Leong Lou Teck, a 91-year-old Singaporean whose son promised his father three years ago he would take him on the inaugural flight. The youngest passenger was a 10-month-old boy from the city-state.
SIA has ordered 19 of the super jumbo jets.
In an all-economy configuration, the plane could carry more than 850 passengers.
The entry of the super jumbo to the market is expected to help ease capacity constraints and meet demand for travel fuelled by a buoyant economy, aviation analysts said.
"Although many have focussed on the aircraft's delays in production for the past two years, as of today, those lost months will be irrelevant," Harbison said.
DPA
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