Mumbai, May 31 (Mid-day) : Singapore Airlines (SIA) made history on Friday night becoming the first airline to start commercial operations of the world's largest passenger aircraft, Airbus 380, in India when two of its flights landed in Delhi and Mumbai. The first A-380 took off from Singaopore to Delhi and it was followed a couple of hours later by a flight to Mumbai.
The superjumbo's inaugural journey to India took shape after the government allowed permission to fly the Big Bird from the French aircraft maker Airbus in January this year. While the Delhi flight landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at around 8.00 pm, the Mumbai flight landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal at around 10.00 pm. The aircraft got a water cannon salute when it landed in Delhi and Mumbai respectively.
These are part of SIA's plans to launch daily flights of this double-decker airliner that can carry 471 passengers in a three-class configuration, with 399 in economy, 60 in business class and 12 suits. Talking at the launch of the A 380 operations to India, Singapore Airlines general manager David Lau said, "The A380 has received an overwhelming response from the Indian travelers. This reiterates our belief in the Indian market and their aspirations to travel the world which has been the key factor for Singapore Airlines’ growth story in India."
Airbus had early this month announced that it would deploy A380 on the Singapore-Delhi and Singapore-Mumbai routes replacing the Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft from this month. Singapore Airlines currently operates 49 weekly flights to India from six cities- New Delhi, Mumbai , Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru. The Singaporean national carrier was the first airline in the world to operate the A-380 in October 2007 between Singapore and Sydney. The superjumbo now also serves Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Singapore Airlines has offered special fares for premium seats and bonus frequent flyer miles to mark the launch of the superjumbo flights in the country.
As part of the launch offer, the PPS Club - the frequent flyer club for Singapore Airlines' premium passengers, will get a 10 per cent discount on the 'Suites' ticket on the Airbus A380. 'Suites' is Singapore Airlines' first class product on the A380 which offers full bed in addition to other amenities. Of the 6,000 seats allowed per week, the airline estimated to use about 5,800 from Delhi and Mumbai, he said. Airbus had early this month announced that it would deploy A380 on the Singapore-Delhi and Singapore-Mumbai routes replacing the Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft from this month after the government allowed permission to fly the Big Bird from the French aircraft maker Airbus in January this year.