Singapore Airlines gets its 5th Airbus A380 Superjumbo

Singapore Airlines, the national airline of Singapore, has taken delivery of its 5th Airbus A380 Superjumbo. The plane arrived in Singapore on June 29, 2008.

Singapore Airlines will use the new Airbus A380, the world’s biggest passenger aircraft, for its Singapore-London service, which will begin on July 16, 2008.

This will be the second A380 to be deployed for the London service after Airbus A380 made its debut at London’s Heathrow Airport on a Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore in March 2008.

A statement from Singapore Airlines said that both planes for London will, however, be temporarily re-deployed to the carrier’s Beijing route for a week to cater to increased demand ahead of the Olympic Games, to be held in Beijing from August 2, 2008.

Singapore Airlines is the first airline to fly the Airbus A380 Superjumbo.

It was in October 2007, a year and a half late, that the first A380 jet arrived in Singapore, after the delivery was delayed by problems including electrical wiring glitches. That plane started flying to Sydney.

The A380 Superjumbos that Singapore Airlines bought in 2008 are flying to London and Tokyo.

Singapore Airlines operates a hub at Singapore Changi Airport and has a strong presence in the South-east Asia, East Asia and South Asia. The airline also operates trans-Pacific flights, including two of the world’s longest non-stop commercial flights from Singapore to Newark, New Jersey, the United States, and Los Angeles, California, the United States, on the Airbus A340-500.

The Airbus A380, nicknamed Superjumbo, is a double-deck, wide-bodied, four-engine airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, a subsidiary of  the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company (EADS). The A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world, made its maiden flight on 27 April, 2005, from Toulouse, France, and made its first commercial flight on 25 October, 2007, from Singapore to Sydney with Singapore Airlines. The aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX during much of its development phase, but the nickname Superjumbo later became associated with it.

The A380 is offered in passenger and freighter versions. Though the A380-800, the passenger model, is the largest passenger airliner in the world, it has a shorter fuselage than the Airbus A340-600, which is Airbus; next biggest passenger aircraft.

The Airbus A380 can carry up to 853 passengers, but Singapore Airlines, one of the world’s most profitable airlines, chose an arrangement with a maximum of 471 seats. The design includes 12 ‘suites,’ each with a full-length bed behind sliding doors, sheets by French design house Givenchy, as well as flat-screen televisions.

Singapore Airlines has committed to buying a total of 19 Airbus A380 Superjumbo aircraft.