A380 ready for maiden flight

by Corina Ciubotaru

The first Airbus A380 to carry passengers as a commercial flight will take off on Thursday, November 25th from Singapore. It's been a long wait for the people eager to be the first to board it, but the day is finally here and some of them paid huge amounts for a ticket from Singapore Airlines that would take them straight to Sydney. The largest sum was paid during an auction by a man named Julian Hayward, who agreed to spend $100,380 for two one-way trips. Singapore Airlines is one of the few companies that placed an order for the A380; six other planes are scheduled to be built before 2009 provided there will be no more delays, out of the total of 189 orders for the superjumbo. Not many airports can operate an aircraft this big so its success will depend on how well owners will be able to manage its routes and users, but what's certain is that a permanent route will be established between San Francisco and Hong Kong in early 2009 the latest, and possibly another one between Singapore and London. Other airlines that expect the arrival of their own A380s are Qantas and Lufthansa, which eventually plan to fly them to the USA, as does Emirates Air, which has placed 47 orders. Only 3 airports in America will be ready to receive the massive aircraft before 2025: JFK in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, along with 17 others around the world, including Heathrow in London, Tokyo Narita and Paris Charles de Gaulle.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20071022/ap_tr_ge/travel_brief_airbus380;_ylt=Ap_HbDjwzkdTB.8za4Qxvx2s0NUE

by Corina Ciubotaru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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