Singapore Airlines has begun daily service with the super-jumbo Airbus A380 to Melbourne, the capital city of the Australian state of Victoria.
The inaugural Singapore Airlines A380 service to Melbourne took off from Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) at 9:00 p.m. on September 29 and touched down at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport (MEL) at around 5:45 a.m. local time on September 30, 25 minutes ahead of schedule. Operating SIA’s flight SQ227, the 471-seat double-decker aircraft had 453 passengers on board.
The A380 embarked on its return journey with over 450 customers on board, departing Melbourne at 3:50 p.m. and scheduled to touch down in Singapore at 9:40 p.m.
Singapore Airlines’ SIN-MEL schedule calls for flight SQ227 to depart Changi’s Terminal 3 at 9:00 p.m. and arrive at Tullamarine at 6:10 a.m. the next day (7:10 a.m. from October 4, when Australia changes its clock to daylight time). The return flight, SQ228, is timed to leave MEL at 3:50 p.m. (4:50 from October 4) and arrive at SIN at 9:40 p.m.
Melbourne is the second Australian city and sixth city in Singapore Airlines’ network to have SIA A380 service. Singapore Airlines operates 21 weekly flights between Singapore and Melbourne, including the daily A380 service.
In late 2007, Singapore Airlines became the first customer to take delivery of the super-jumbo Airbus A380 and it is one of the largest customers for the type, with a total of 19 ordered to date and options on six more
“The A380 continues to be extremely popular with our customers, as we see very positive booking response for our scheduled A380 services between Singapore and Melbourne,” says said Huang Cheng Eng, Singapore Airlines’ executive vice president, marketing and the regions. “Since the start of its operation in October 2007, the A380 has carried more than 1.8 million customers on more than 4,600 commercial flights … On routes with multiple daily frequencies operated with different aircraft, many of our customers will specifically choose the service that is operated by this clean and green superjumbo.”
Singapore Airlines first started A380 operations to Sydney in October 2007, and subsequently added superjumbo services to London Heathrow, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Melbourne.
The airline currently has 10 A380s in its fleet, with a further nine on firm order and options on six more. Airbus has recently confirmed that it has agreed with Singapore Airlines to defer delivery of one of the airline’s new A380s from late 2009 into early 2010, reducing Airbus’ total deliveries of A380s in 2009 to 13 aircraft from the previously announced 14.
