ON BOARD FLIGHT SQ380 — The world’s largest jetliner made aviation history Thursday, completing its first commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney with 455 passengers, some of them ensconced in luxury suites and double beds.
The Airbus superjumbo lifted off from Singapore’s Changi Airport and landed in Sydney about seven hours later. Also aboard Flight SQ380 was a crew of about 30, including four pilots.
Flight attendants handed out champagne and certificates to passengers, some of whom paid tens of thousands of dollars in an online auction for seats.
“I have never been in anything like this in the air before in my life,” said Australian Tony Elwood, reclining with his wife, Julie, on the double bed in their private first-class suite.
“It is going to make everything else after this simply awful,” he said, sipping Dom Perignon champagne after a lunch of marinated lobster and double-boiled chicken soup. He paid $50,000 for the two places.
The double-decker A380 ends the nearly 37-year reign of the Boeing Co.’s Everett-built 747 jumbo jet as the world’s most spacious passenger plane. Its European manufacturer, Airbus SAS, also claims the A380 is the most fuel-efficient and quietest passenger jet ever built.
Thomas Lee, who was also on the 747’s first commercial flight from New York to London in 1970, described the latest experience as “spectacular … fantastic … incredible.”
“It was a festive atmosphere, I can tell you. Everybody was excited. People were up out of their seats in the aisle. It was quite difficult for the cabin crew to do their job … not like a normal flight, I can assure you,” he said.
The A380 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, 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, in a speech before the departure.
The Boeing 747 jumbo jet generally carries about 400 passengers. The A380 — as tall as a seven-story building with each wing big enough to hold 70 cars — is capable of carrying 853 passengers in an all-economy-class configuration.
However, Singapore Airlines opted for 471 seats in three classes — 12 Singapore Airlines Suites, 60 business class and 399 economy class.
Each suite is fitted with a leather upholstered seat, a table, a 23-inch flat-screen TV, laptop connections and a variety of office software. On the upper deck, business-class seats can turn into wide, flat beds, while the economy-class seats on both decks have more leg and knee room, the carrier says.
Singapore Airlines auctioned most of the seats for theflight, raising $1.26 million for charity. The highest bidder was Briton Julian Hayward, who bought two suite seats for $100,380.
Singapore Airlines has ordered 19 A380s, hoping to benefit from a boom in air travel that has seen global air traffic increasing 5 percent to 10 percent a year. Dubai-based Emirates, Airbus’ largest A380 customer with 55 on order, will take its first delivery in August.
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.
Yusof said the market was set to be dominated by mid-sized, long-haul, two-engine aircraft such as the rival Boeing 787, which will offer 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.
Shukor noted that Singapore Airlines renews its fleet frequently to maintain an average age of about six years. Once the planes are older than six years, the airline may have trouble selling them, he said.
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