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  • SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines receives its first A380 after a delay of nearly two years

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SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines receives its first A380 after a delay of nearly two years

Singapore Airlines A380 arrived in Singapore on Wednesday (October 17), after a delay of nearly two years that lost planemaker Airbus billions of dollars in a crisis leading to thousands of job cuts and a management reshuffle at the Franco-German group. With two passenger decks and room for a bar and shops, the A380 claims 50 percent more floor space than the 747 and its designers boast it will introduce a new era of airborne luxury. After greeting the superjumbo's arrival at Changi airport, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong acknowledged that it had been a long process for Singapore Airlines, and Airbus. "There has been delay, but SIA has made use of the delay to make sure that they are totally ready now once the airplane is here," Lee said. Singapore Airlines unveiled a cabin interior with 471 seats, compared with the plane's original standard of 555 seats, now reduced to 525 seats to accommodate new seat designs. The Singapore version will have 12 self-contained suites. For those with upwards of 22,000 United States (U.S.) dollars to spend, two first-class seats can be combined to form a double-bed, strewn with flower petals. "Luckily I'm sitting here on the ground for free," said one Singapore Airlines guest. "I don't how much the ticket is going to be but I love the privacy of this suite." As Singapore Airlines gets five more aircraft in 2008, it will add daily London, Tokyo and Hong Kong/San Francisco services. On-board entertainment will include 100 movies, more than 180 TV programmes, 700 CDs and over 22 radio channels. The same entertainment box will include a word processor and 3D games. The A380 will enter service between Singapore and Sydney with a flight raising money for charity on October 25. Full commercial service will begin three days later. Airbus parent EADS's 12-billion-euro (17 billion U.S. dollars) programme to produce a new class of mammoth plane hit various technical problems, most recently in fitting each jet's 500 km (300 miles) of wiring.

ITN Source | October 18, 2007Watch more videos from ITN Source

Tags:. .totally. .sitting. .raising. .form. .miles











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