Airbus A380's first commercial flight to Europe

World's largest passenger plane touches down at Heathrow airport

World’s biggest passenger plane touched down at Heathrow yesterday at the end of its first commercial flight to Europe. Carrying 471 passengers paying up to £7,000 each, the Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 – built in France but kept in the air by British-built wings and engines – was greeted when it touched down after a 13-hour, 44-minute flight from Singapore by a water cannon salute from Heathrow's own firecrews. Heathrow, which had spent more than £100 million to accommodate the A380 that will now operate on a daily basis between Singapore and London

Emirates will start A380 services to Heathrow in December and Australian carrier Qantas is also expected to use the superjumbo to fly to London. In the future, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will be flying the A380 at Heathrow, where both terminal three and the new £4.3 billion Terminal 5 can take the new aircraft.

Singapore Airlines' A380 lands at Heathrow

History was made today with the arrival of the first commercial flight of the world's largest passenger aircraft, the A380, into London's Heathrow Airport. Singapore Airlines' flight SQ308 landed at 2:50 pm local time with a full load of 471 passengers plus crew. This first A380 commercial service to Europe follows the delivery of the third A380 to Singapore Airlines on 11 March. Fitted with luxurious suites, award-winning four-abreast business class and a new, more spacious economy class, the A380 allows the airline's customers to travel to London in unprecedented comfort and space. Passengers travelling on Singapore Airlines from London to Singapore and on to Sydney will now be able to fly the whole route aboard A380 aircraft. Marvin Tan, Singapore Airlines general manager for the UK and Ireland, said the partnership between SIA and Airbus was making a significant impact on aviation history with the inaugural flight from Singapore to London. "This flight is trailblazing a new era in passenger comfort between Singapore and Europe and the A380 is an aircraft of which both of our companies can be proud. Entry into service has been fantastic and that's down to our close partnership with Airbus," Tan explained Mike Forster, group strategy director for BAA, which operates Heathrow, said the inaugural flight marked a great day for Heathrow, Singapore Airlines and aviation. BAA had invested £450million in readiness for this first flight into Europe's busiest airport. "The A380 is an important aircraft as it allows us to increase capacity without increasing the number of flights," he commented. "Heathrow airlines have placed orders for 168 A380s. This means 10 per cent of our passengers will be flying on A380s, allowing us to increase capacity without increasing the number of flights." The U.K.'s Minister of State for Business, Pat McFadden, added: "This flight represents a significant milestone. The Airbus A380 is a remarkable aircraft - quieter, cleaner, smarter and greener than existing commercial planes. I wish the aircraft, the airport and the airline - all renowned for their world-leading capabilities - a long and successful future working together." Singapore Airlines is the first to fly the A380 and has firm orders for a further 16 aircraft and options on six more. Airbus A380 lands in Sydney on world's first commercial flight: The world's biggest jumbo jet landed safely in Sydney on Thursday, completing its long-delayed first commercial flight from Singapore. The double-decker A380 emerged from low-lying cloud to fly over Sydney's famous harbor before touching down on time, a contrast to two years of delays which pushed its European manufacturer Airbus into a loss. Watched by hundreds of airport staff and aviation enthusiasts lining fences outside the airport, passengers on the inaugural Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight disembarked without a hitch. The wet Sydney afternoon did nothing to dampen passengers' enthusiasm. "It was great being a part of history," Michael Sim, who said he had paid about 30 percent more for his ticket than he would have on other flights, told Reuters television. Passengers paid between $560 and $100,380 for seats on the inaugural flight, after bidding for the tickets as part of a charity auction to drum up publicity. "It was a very smooth rise, and much quieter than the 747," Rainer Silhavy told Reuters. During the flight, first-class passengers reclined in suites modeled on luxury yacht interiors and slumbered in proper beds which the airline said can be converted into doubles. French design house Givenchy designed the bedding, while passengers ate off fine bone chinaware and drank from crystal glasses bought in by the same designer. "Of course it was the first flight, so you get most of the first class treatment, I hope they keep that up," said Sim. The A380 can seat more than 800 passengers although Singapore Airlines, the first airline to take delivery of the plane, has configured the aircraft to seat 470 over two decks, hoping to attract more top-paying passengers. TRUMPS THE JUMBO The superjumbo replaces the Boeing 747 as the world's largest airliner in service. Hundreds of airport staff and passengers armed with camera phones earlier watched the take-off from Singapore. "I'm a big airplane freak and I love everything about planes," said Ernest Graaff, an A380 passenger as he waited to board the jet among beaming SIA flight attendants. Graaff paid $40,000 for two business-class tickets on the jet. "I'm excited about being a part of history." The aircraft will return to Singapore on Friday. "Flying the aircraft itself is like flying any other big jet," said pilot Robert Ting, who was one of four pilots and a crew of 30 aboard the flight. "This aircraft comes with the latest technology ... for example this is an aircraft where we come with an electronic flight plan whereby we will have electronic manuals on board, we no longer carry paper copies," he told local television. Airbus handed the superjumbo to SIA earlier this month after wiring glitches caused two years of delays, pushed the planemaker into a loss and leading to the loss of 10,000 jobs. SIA is to take delivery of another five A380s in 2008. The airline plans to introduce the A380 on long-haul flights to London, Tokyo and San Francisco from early 2008.