Launch customer Singapore Airlines expects the A380 to change aviation industry
10 Oct 2007
Singapore: The new
Airbus A380 super jumbo, due for delivery to launch customer Singapore International
Airlines (SIA) on 15 October, will change the aviation industry, according to
senior SIA officials. The first SIA A380 commercial flight will take off from
Singapore''s Changi Airport for Sydney on 25 October.
Officials said that the airline had been facing a seat crunch due to a two-year delay in delivery of the aircraft, as it was already committed to sell a number of its Boeing 747s.
SIA now hopes to post a 5-7 per cent annual capacity growth within a year or so with new deliveries of the A380 coming in. They said that the airline would now be in a position to grow capacity on existing routes and put more aircraft on new destinations
They
also said that about 30 SIA pilots have been trained to fly the A380 and that
the number would increase to 50 by the end of the year.