A380 first passenger flight

From The Sunday Times
October 21, 2007

A sneak peek at the A380
Anyone with a tenner can join the mile-high club, if they're prepared to
fool around in a low-cost airline's smallest room. But this week we found
out the price of doing it in style: about £4,000.
That's what it costs (for two) to lie under the Givenchy-designed duvet of
the world's first airborne double bed. Oh, and you get flown from Singapore
to Sydney into the bargain. The flying love nest works out at roughly £8 a
minute, so you'd better make it worthwhile. No pressure.

The bed is the headline-grabbing centrepiece of the A380, the largest
passenger plane ever built, which was handed over to Singapore Airlines
(0844 800 2380, www.singaporeair.com) this week in Toulouse and will have
its inaugural flight on Thursday. It's the first time the world has been
allowed to see inside the double-decker superjumbo that its makers, Airbus,
hope will replace Boeing's 747.

There has been plenty of talk about what might be on the plane - gyms,
casinos, waterfalls, even bowling alleys. Real life, of course, doesn't work
like that. All those gimmicks would soak up space that airlines could
otherwise use for revenue-producing seats. Singapore Airlines, by contrast,
simply promised that its A380 would be the most luxurious plane in the sky.
I've had a good snoop around, and, on first impressions, it has succeeded -
up to a point.

In the Suites (the airline decided the label "first class" simply wasn't
posh enough), everything's rosy. Literally: rose petals were scattered over
that double bed. Passengers have individual cabins, like a capsule hotel.
Inside, there's a vast seat for you, plus a smaller one for visitors (invite
a friend up from economy to gloat), a clever bed that folds down from the
wall, and a 23in television (which is more than I've got at home).

Just two of the cabins are doubles. To do what comes naturally, though, you'll
need some nerve: for safety reasons, the walls only go up to about forehead
height, allowing the crew to peek in on tiptoe.

Business class is great, too. The seat is almost ridiculously wide - at
34in, it could accommodate two comfortably. Flat bed, proper mattress,
privacy screens: the TV's just 15in, but you'll manage. Like everyone else
on the plane, you've got a choice of 100 films to watch on it - and if you're
still bored, there's a tiny snack bar to stroll to for a chat.

What about the downtrodden masses back in coach? Well, our lot has also
improved - a little. The legroom is a bog-standard 32in, but clever design
of the seat backs - which indent at the bottom - has made the most of it,
creating extra space for jutting knees. The seat is an inch wider than
usual, there are power and USB ports for your laptop, and the large windows
make the cabin feel airy and light. No bar or mingling area, though. Shame.

The verdict? The jury's still out. If it's going to be more than a
plane-spotter's dream come true, the A380 has to turn long-haul flying from
the cramped, squalid, downright degrading experience we've come to expect
into something all of us - including economy passengers - can actually
enjoy. The only way to see if it does is to fly on the thing. So, next week,
I'm doing just that.

In the meantime, for those of you still disappointed at the lack of driving
ranges and football pitches on board, here's a snippet. Rumour has it that a
turf-loving Saudi prince has ordered a superjumbo as his private plane, to
kit out as he wishes. Hmm . . . an airborne racecourse: well, why not?

It was this big

- The A380 is 73 metres long - only two metres longer than its rival, the
747-400 jumbo jet. The wings, though, are a whopping 15 metres wider: you
could park 70 cars on them.

- The tailfin is taller than five double-decker buses.

- The plane could hold 853 passengers, but Singapore Airlines has installed
just 471 seats - those first-class suites soak up a lot of space.

- The A380 has cost £8.4 billion to develop. If you fancy buying one, it'll
set you back £156m, list price. Sorry, no part exchange.

- There's 50% more floor space than on a 747.

- It will fly 9,320 miles without refuelling - not enough to get to Sydney,
but you'd reach Darwin.

- The plane will make its first flight carrying paying passengers on
Thursday, from Singapore to Sydney. Services from London will be launched in
spring 2008.