Aircraft

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is to take delivery of its first Airbus A380 on 15 October and has set 25 October as the date for the first commercial flight.

Star Alliance carrier SIA says in a statement that the first A380 will be handed over to it by Airbus on 15 October at a ceremony in Toulouse.

It says the first commercial flight, flight SQ380, will depart Singapore on 25 October for Sydney in Australia. It will return to Singapore the following day.

The airline announced recently that it planned to auction tickets for the first commercial flight and says today that bidding will begin on eBay on 27 August.

“Seats in all three classes will be sold progressively, across both legs of the flight,” it says.

“Bids will be staggered to finish at various times over a period of just over two weeks, with the auction cycle being completed on 10 September 2007.”

SIA says its A380s will have 471 seats in three classes. It says that in addition to economy and business classes it will have a “Singapore Airlines Suites” class, which will be “a class beyond first”.

The carrier is scheduled to take delivery of the first four production A380s before the next operators Emirates and Qantas start taking delivery of their A380s in the second half of next year.

SIA was originally due to have taken delivery of its first A380 in the first half of last year but there have been extensive delays to the programme.

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• For more news, pictures and information about the Airbus A380 please visit our A380 page