Eighteen months and an economic downturn later, Singapore Airlines is continuing the expansion of its global A380 services out of Changi with the addition of Paris to its itinerary.
Australia which hosted the service's inaugural route from Sydney to Singapore in October 2007 continues to benefit from the expansion. As of last Monday, passengers can not only fly from Sydney to London with a stopover in Singapore on the airline's fit-out of the revolutionary aircraft, they can also fly to Paris.
Singapore Airlines is already flying the Kangaroo Route to Heathrow via Changi and the addition of the Singapore-Paris Charles de Gaulle route will allow those venturing on to other mainland European destinations greater access.
The airline now flies A380 on four routes, with Singapore-Tokyo Narita the fourth.
But the aircraft have not been without problems. Five months into being the first airline to fly the A380 commercially, Singapore grounded aircraft due to fuel pump failures.
Recently, Qantas has had mechanical difficulties with its A380s. But Singapore is confident the planes represent so far unrivalled advantages for both customers and the airline.
"From Singapore Airlines's perspective, the A380's reliability since entry into service has been generally excellent and substantially better than any other new aircraft type that the airline has received," a spokesperson said. "Airbus and Singapore Airlines engineers and technicians have quickly attended to any issues experienced by our fleet of six A380 aircraft where one has arisen in the 18 months we have been operating the aircraft.
"Aircraft are incredibly complex pieces of machinery and problems that can't be easily resolved need to be thoroughly investigated."
As of the end of last month, Singapore had flown 1.3million people on the A380. And the airline sees no let-up. "Despite the downturn and drop in global demand, we've been seeing a continuation of the encouraging loads on each of our A380 routes," the spokesperson said.
From a passenger viewpoint, there is no question the interior is one of the best, if not the best in the air. I flew on the inaugural flight to Singapore from Sydney and was mightily impressed with the business class cabin.
Incredibly spacious, with some of the best lie-flat beds in the business, the real selling points for me were little differences, such as storage for reading glasses, multiple lighting options and a seat where you could sit cross-legged.
The much-talked about noise reduction was also a reality.
Eighteen months on, the fit-out is holding up nicely. I flew from Sydney to Europe and noticed the difference arriving much fresher. When you are doing the longest of long hauls, that is a selling point for a customer.
Singapore's economy class on the A380 affords extra room and the added bonus of the reduced noise as well as faster boarding and disembarking.
From the airline's point of view, the efficiencies are also great. "The new aircraft has proven easier to maintain, resulting in higher aircraft utilisation and less ground time, thus improving the operating economics of the aircraft," the spokesman said.
Despite the increased capacity, the A380 uses 20 per cent less fuel on a per-seat-kilometre basis than its competitor, the Boeing 747.
Future destinations are still to be determined, although the airline has 19 A380s on order and has indicated its intention to put the aircraft on the Singapore-Melbourne route in the not-too-distant future.
The writer flew as a guest of Singapore Airlines.
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