Singapore Airlines adds fifth superjumbo

Singapore Airlines, the most valuable airline in the world by stock price, announced this week that it is about to receive its fifth superjumbo aircraft – another Airbus A380.

The A380, which is currently the largest passenger plane in the world, is scheduled to arrive on 29 June in Singapore, and will carry passengers on the airline’s Singapore-London route.

During the first week in August, the aircraft will fly the Singapore-Beijing route to meet the high demand created by the Beijing Olympics, a spokesperson for Singapore Airlines said.

The delivery of the Airbus A380 superjumbo is happening just after Airbus announced another delay, in May, in deliveries of the aircraft.

The aircraft manufacturer has been struggling to boost its production capacity in order to avoid further penalty payments it must make to airlines when deliveries are delayed.

Airbus is still trying to recover from problems that occurred in wiring the gigantic double-decker airplanes, after two years.

Shares in parent company EADS have dropped by 44 percent in 2008, while rival aircraft manufacturer Boeing is down by 22 percent.

Singapore Airlines recently reported that it has firm orders for an additional 14 A380s and options for six more.

www.singaporeair.com