(Editors Note: Singapore Airlines made aviation history when it inaugurated on Oct. 25 the commercial flight of the worlds biggest passenger plane, the Airbus A380. Heres an account of the inaugural flight.)
SINGAPORE - The 471 passengers of Singapore Airlines (SIA) Flight 380 clapped and cheered as the latest behemoth of the skies landed on automatic pilot at Changi International Airport on Oct. 26.
They also clapped and cheered about 7-1/2 hours earlier when the Airbus A380 took off from Sydney International Airport on the second leg of its inaugural flight.
A similar scene took place on the first leg of the maiden voyage from Singapore to Sydney on Oct. 25. The passengers began drinking champagne, wine and beer and nibbling on canapes about 20 minutes after takeoff.
Small groups of hitherto complete strangers gathered and began exchanging pleasantries as if they had known one another all their lives. It was one continuous party of one big, happy airborne family.
Thomas Lee of California, one of the passengers, was quoted by the International Herald Tribune as saying: "The flight was spectacular. I'm thrilled beyond words actually. Just extremely excited. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd put it at 12."
Lee, an aviation enthusiast, was a passenger on the worlds first Boeing commercial flight, Pan Ams Clipper Victor, from New York to London in 1970.
Julian Hayward, a British businessman who made the highest bid of $100,380 for two First Suites on the flight, says, "It was like a rocking party at 40,000 feet. We gave it top marks."
In 1428, or more than 500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci, who had made experimental flying machines, wrote prophetically (it now turns out) in his notebooks: "The Great Bird will take its flight, filling the universe with wonders."
It was the Big Bird, now a reality, that people aboard the plane and on the ground cheered lustily.
But after the cheering had died down, what emerged was a truly trailblazing event that ranks up there on the list of memorable international transport innovations, like the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary (May 27, 1936), the biggest ocean liner of her time, and the inaugural flights of the the Kitty Hawk, the first airplane by the Orville brothers (Dec. 17, 1903), the Boeing 747 (April 9, 1967) and the supersonic Concorde (March 2, 1969).
Using the latest aviation technology and innovations, the Airbus A380, also nicknamed the Whispering Giant or the Big Fella by the media, is one of the cleanest, greenest and most comfortable aircraft in operation today.
The A380 burns about 17 percent less fuel, on a seat-kilometer basis, than the other jumbo aircraft in the world today. Its carbon dioxide emissions per passenger are the lowest of any aircraft. Using the latest innovations in aerodynamics, it reduces drag to a minimum and further improves fuel efficiency.
Its state-of-the-art technology, new design, airframe construction and powerful Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines make the A380 the quietest large passenger jetliner ever built. It produces half the noise energy at takeoff, reducing the area exposed to equivalent noise levels around the runway by half. (This writer, who usually has trouble sleeping aboard airliners because of the noise and vibration, found the Airbus A380 one of the airplanes with the lowest noise and vibrations he had ever taken.)
As tall as a seven-story building and weighing 276.8 tons (operating empty), the gull-winged A380 is a truly impressive sight both in the air and on the ground. In its original configuration, it could carry 853 passengers, but Singapore Airlines had it modified to take a maximum of only 471 passengers. This made it possible to install 12 first-class suites on the main deck, 60 business-class seats and 399 economy-class seats across both decks.
Among the passengers on the first leg of the inaugural flight (Singapore to Sydney) were a 10-month-old boy from Singapore, the youngest customer, and a 91-year-old man, the oldest, also from Singapore, who traveled with his family.
The passengers were of 35 different nationalities, with Australians making up the biggest group (28 percent), Singaporeans (11 percent), Britons (11 percent) and Americans (8 percent).
On the second leg of the inaugural flight, Marie Mariani, a retired business executive from France who is now living in Monaco, celebrated her birthday with a chocolate cake and champagne.
"I enjoy flying," she says. She visits Singapore several times a year and always attends the Singapore Air Show. Mariani said she had been to Manila, Cebu and Boracay.
The youngest passenger on the second leg of the flight was Julian Wu, seven months old, son of Peng Wu, an information technology specialist, and Cellina Chen, an accountant. They live in Sydney and visit Singapore occasionally.
In launching the Airbus A380 on its commercial service, SIA set an example of corporate social responsibility. It sold tickets on the inaugural flight through an online charity auction on eBay. Most economy-class tickets sold for an average of $1,000 and the cheapest went for $560, the airlines said.
The auction raised about $1.3 million. All the proceeds were donated to the following charities: one-third to Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (which is engaged in medical missions all over the world), one-third to Singapore's Community Chest, and the remaining one-third to be split between the Sydney Childrens Hospital, Randwick, and the Childrens Hospital at Westmead, both in Sydney.
(Isagani Yambot, the publisher of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, was invited by Singapore Airlines to the A380s inaugural flight. He was provided an economy-class seat on the second leg of the inaugural flight from Sydney to Singapore and business-class seats on the Manila-Singapore, Singapore-Sydney and Singapore-Manila flights, as well as hotel accommodations.)
