The world's largest passenger plane has landed Thursday in Australia's capital city of Sydney on its first commercial flight, after a seven-hour journey from Singapore, BBC reported.

Singapore Airlines took delivery of the huge plane Airbus A 380, dubbed the Superjumbo, just over a week ago.

The commercial operations with the aircraft have been launched by Asia's most profitable carrier Singapore Airlines Ltd.

Flight SQ380 took off from Changi airport with 455 people and 28 crew members on board although it can carry at a total of 850 passengers.

The people, who experienced the craft's first flight, are mostly Australians. They bought tickets online in an auction and the airline will donate USD 1,3 M raised from sales to charity.

The plane is equipped with the widest-available business-class seats as Singapore Air seeks to lure passengers.

"I'm actually sitting in the economy class on the lower deck of the plane. The most amazing thing is 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," one of the passengers said, describing the machine as a "phenomenal" one.

"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," he added.

With the superjumbo's wing span almost the size of a football pitch, Sydney 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.

Singapore Airlines has three classes in the new plane - suites, business and economy.

The suites, created by French luxury-yacht designer Jean-Jacques Coste, have a pitch with privacy provided by a sliding full- length screen door.

The flat bed, with mattress, folds down from behind the passenger and fits on top of the existing seat. Cabin crew will make up the bed with a duvet and cushions from French fashion house Givenchy when the passenger is ready to sleep.

The 399 economy-class seats have a large TV screen, a USB port and a choice of 100 movies, more than 180 TV programs, 700 compact discs and 22 radio channels, according to the airline.

A380 ends the 37-year reign of Boeing Co.'s 747 aircraft as the world's largest passenger jet.

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