Come May 30, Singapore Airlines to fly A380s daily

Company will fly 471 passengers in a three-class configuration of firstclass suites, business class and economy on two A380s

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will soon become the first carrier to introduce daily flights using the Airbus A380, the world’s largest commercial aircraft, from Delhi and Mumbai.

The airline’s decision to commence A380 operations from May 30 comes close on the heels of the Indian government’s allowing carriers to fly A380 from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad airports, which are capable of handling arrival and departure of a large number of passengers in one go.

SIA will fly 471 passengers in a three-class configuration of first-class suites, business-class and economy in the two A380s it plans to operate from India. The A380s will operate daily to Mumbai and Delhi from May 30, taking over from two daily flights that currently serve each city using smaller Boeing 777s, said David Lau, SIA’s general manager (India).

A third daily flight fromDelhi would continue to be operated using Boeing 777 (to be replaced with A330from July 1). With the rejig in aircraft type deployed, SIA's capacity out of Delhiwould increase by 13-15% while that out of Mumbai will drop by around 9%.

Of the 6,000 seats allowed per week, the airline estimates use ofabout 5,800 seats per week each fromDelhi and Mumbai. Lau said, "We have been keen to operate the Airbus A-380 to Indiaand are glad that the Air Services Agreement (ASA) between Singapore and India nowallows us to do so."

He added India is a particularly important market for SIA and "We are very pleased that more of our customers will soon be able to experience thespaciousness and comfort of the world's largest aircraft."

In fact, twoA380 aircraft flying to Australia is being diverted to serve the Indian market. These planes on the India route would be replaced by new ones as soonas more of them are inducted. At present, SIA has 19 A380s in its fleet of 110aircraft. The airline is scheduled to receive five more A380s in 2016. The aircraft would be "a solid value proposition for the (Indian)customers", a large chunk of whom were youth and willing to travel, Lau said.

The Singaporean national carrier was the first airline in the world tooperate the A-380 in October 2007 between Singapore and Sydney. The superjumbonow also serves Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York,Paris, Shanghai, Tokyo Narita and Zurich.

Separately, commenting on Air India's proposed entry into globalgrouping Star Alliance in July of which SIA is a major member, Lau said,"We have been partnering with Air India for over four years" and this cooperation would continue to grow in future.