World’s largest passenger carrier, the Airbus A380, made its maiden commercial flight to Delhi on Friday, May 30. Operated by the Singapore Airlines, it will now ply daily from Delhi and Mumbai to Singapore.
On its arrival late in the evening, the A380 was given a customary water gun salute at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Presently, only Bangalore and Hyderabad are the other two Indian airports to have the capability for hosting the Super Jumbo aircraft. The IGIA had to prepare itself with a 4.43km long-75 metre wide runway to get the nod from the government to have the 560-tonne A380 operate from here
The craft has 471 seats, divided into 12 suites, 60 Business and 399 Economy class seats. It was a pleasant surprise for those travelling from Delhi to Singapore on Friday when they came to know that they will be flying the A380. Some arrived hours before the check-in time to catch a glimpse of the craft arriving at the airport. Reportedly, an Economy class ticket will be around Rs 30,000 with a Business class coming for its double. The Executive class, or the suites, tickets are for Rs 2 lakh.
Reportedly, Emirates have also got the clearance to operate their A380 out of India from July.