A380 makes first passenger flight.--fron bbc

A380 makes first passenger flight

A commercial A380 flight will take off from Singapore Superjumbo takes off

The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, has taken off on its first commercial flight - from Singapore to Sydney.

Singapore Airlines took delivery of the huge plane dubbed the Superjumbo just over a week ago and passengers bought seats in a charity online auction.

It can carry some 850 passengers but is taking about 450 to Sydney.

The Superjumbo's advent ends a reign of nearly four decades by the Boeing 747 as the world's biggest airliner.

The new aircraft suffered almost two years of delays because of a number of construction problems but took off on time.

One of the passengers on board, Laurence Watts, told the BBC it was a "phenomenal" plane.

"I'm actually sitting in the economy class on the lower deck of the plane. The most amazing thing about this - and for people that haven't perhaps travelled business class on a 747, you will never have been on the upstairs of a plane - but here you have two classes of economy, split over two decks, with stairs in between the two, which I think is a huge novelty for everyone.

"The plane itself - the space is bigger than anything you can imagine. I can look out the window to my right at the moment and I can see a wing that looks bigger than most ordinary planes."

Hundreds of staff and passengers at Singapore's Changi Airport watched it lift into the sky, snapping the moment with pocket cameras and camera phones.

Passengers paid between $560 and $100,380 to be on the inaugural flight, which is taking seven hours.

Australian welcome

Sydney Airport has had to make modifications to fit the giant plane, the BBC's Nick Bryant reports from the city.

Two 20th Century design icons - Sydney's Opera House and its Harbour Bridge - will form the backdrop for what the Airbus consortium hopes will become an emblem of the 21st.

With the Superjumbo's wing span almost the size of a football pitch, the airport has spent millions to accommodate the new plane.

To cope with the two decks of seating, it has had to construct new aero bridges.

It has also had to realign one of the taxi ways and strengthen a tunnel which runs underneath the main runway.