Applause as superjumbo makes maiden flight from Hong Kong
Incessant camera flashes lit up the cabin of the world's largest passenger aircraft as excited travellers posed for photos on the Airbus A380 inaugural flight from Hong Kong to Singapore yesterday.
The Singapore Airlines aircraft had earlier been met with a round of applause from waiting passengers and ground crew as it touched down at Hong Kong International Airport at around 1.30pm.
David Cheung, an aircraft maintenance mechanic, said he took leave so he could make the flight. Mr Cheung was travelling together with 10 other members of the Hong Kong Aviation Discussion Board, a group of aircraft enthusiasts.
'I travelled in economy class. The space was more or less the same as other aircraft, but the A380 was considerably more smooth and quiet,' he said,
However, business class passengers looking to connect to the internet were disappointed yesterday as the service was not operational. An airline spokesman explained the vendor for the services had gone out of business and an alternative was being sought.
Huang Chen Eng, executive vice-president of Singapore Airlines, said the fact that Hong Kong was chosen to be the second Asian destination after Tokyo to be served by the new aircraft was another milestone in the firm's relationship with the city.
'We began flying to Hong Kong with a twice-weekly DC4 skymaster that took nine and a half hours to make the journey and carried 55 passengers,' he said. 'Today, our 471-seat A380 arrives in less than half that journey time.'
A spokesman for the airline said it had invested US$360 million on a fleet of 19 A380 aircraft. Nine had been delivered.
Airport Authority chief executive Stanley Hui Hon-chung said HK$100 million had been spent on improvements to receive the new Airbus. However, the inaugural flight experienced a minor delay due to difficulties in locking one of the connecting bridges onto the aircraft door.
Airbus carried out two test flights in Hong Kong in 2006 and 2007 and a low flying demonstration over Victoria Harbour two years ago.
