A380 set for Beijing debut

Xinhua, October 17, 2011

China's first Airbus 380 superjumbo belonging to China Southern Airlines will take off on its official maiden flight from Beijing to Guangzhou today.

The Guangzhou-based carrier, the world's seventh operator of the double-deck plane, will launch the aircraft's commercial operation from tomorrow when fare-paying passengers will fly between Beijing and Guangzhou until October 26 and between Shanghai and Beijing from October 27 to 29. Tickets have been sold out for the superjumbo's eight luxury suites, which cost 3,160 yuan (US$495), on the Shanghai-Beijing route.

The airline will fly the A380, the world's biggest passenger jet, on international routes that have yet to be announced.

The seats in the luxury suites, named "platinum", can turn into a bed.

Each seat in the economy class has a telephone that passengers can use to talk to each other during the flight.

"The 70-meter-long A380 is a bit too long for passengers to walk over to their friends to talk, so the airline has designed the telephones," said Xu Lingling, an A380 attendant.

The other six operators are Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qantas Airways of Australia, Air France, Germany's Lufthansa and Korean Air.