Singapore Airlines takes Delivery of Fifth Airbus A380

Singapore Airlines has taken delivery of its fifth Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger plane. The new A380 aircraft landed in Singapore on Sunday morning.

The airline also took delivery, just a few hours before, of its 18th Boeing 777-300ER aircraft at the Boeing Delivery Centre, at Everett, Washington.

With the addition of this fifth A380 into its fleet, Singapore Airlines will upgrade more of its Boeing 747-400 flights to A380 operations on the Singapore-London route. SQ318 – the lunch-time departure from Singapore to London Heathrow – and the returning SQ321 – late-evening departure from London – will be operated by an A380 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 16 July 2008.

This is in addition to the current daily A380 service operated on flights SQ 322 (Singapore-London) and SQ 317 (London-Singapore). However, from 2 August 2008 to 8 August 2008 inclusive, the aircraft will be deployed to Beijing, to cater to the increased demand in the lead-up to the start of the Olympic Games. These will be the first A380 flights to the People’s Republic of China.

The Singapore Airlines A380 features the new Singapore Airlines Suites, where each suite is the customer’s very own private cabin in the sky. Singapore Airlines A380s' also feature the award-winning 4-abreast Business Class seat and a new, more comfortable Economy cabin.

The quietest large passenger aircraft ever built, the A380 delivers substantial fuel burn reductions per seat mile over the next largest aircraft. Singapore Airlines is the first to fly the A380, and is currently the only airline operating the superjumbo. The airline has firm orders for a further 14 A380s and options on six more.

Due to the deployment of the A380 on the Singapore-Beijing route, from 2 to 8 August 2008 inclusive, SQ318 and SQ321 flights between Singapore and London will be operated by Boeing 747-400 during this period.

Singapore Airlines currently operates daily A380 scheduled services between Sydney and Singapore, London and Singapore and Tokyo and Singapore. Services to Sydney commenced on 28 October 2007 while services to London and Tokyo commenced on 18 March 2008 and 20 May 2008 respectively.

The Singapore Airlines A380 is powered by four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.

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