Singapore Airlines (SIA) has completed the first commercial Airbus A380 flight with a service between its Singapore base and Sydney in Australia.
The flight, numbered SQ380, departed Singapore’s Changi airport as scheduled at 08:00 today and the aircraft touched down in Sydney shortly before 17:30 after a flight of nearly 7h 30min.
The majority of the tickets for the first flight were sold on eBay with proceeds donated to charities. The youngest passenger was a 10-month-old boy and the oldest was a 91-year-old man, both of whom were from Singapore.
The eldest passenger travelled with his family. His son bought the Singapore Airlines Suites ticket for him in the charity auction.
Julian Hayward bought the first Suite on the flight, paying $100,380 for him and a friend.
Thomas Lee, from California, was a passenger on the first Boeing 747 commercial flight between New York and London in 1970.
The passengers represented 35 different nationalities, with the largest group being Australians (28%), then Singaporeans (14%), then Britons (11%) and Americans (8%).
Customers across all classes were served a Champagne brunch. Two chefs flew on board the aircraft and supervised the preparation and service of meals in all cabins.
The return leg of the trip, carrying flight number SQ380, will operate on 26 October from Sydney back to Singapore, departing at 16:00 and arriving at 22:15.
The auction raised around S$1.9 million ($1.3 million) for various charities.
SIA plans to introduce the A380 on services to London’s Heathrow Airport from the first quarter of 2008 following delivery of additional aircraft.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
