A couple of years ago, the naysayers were postulating Singapore Airlines had gambled too far with its decision to be the first customer of the world’s largest – and then unproven – commercial airtcraft.

The Airbus A380 had been dogged with technical delays and cost over-runs that many had written it off – just as Boeing has been with the long-awaited Dreamliner.

Both aircraft have been pitched as offering a different strategy for the next generation of aircraft – one with large passenger carrying capacity and range; the other a swifter journey with less cost and fewer passengers.

Nearly two years out, Singapore Airlines’ gamble with the A380 is looking good. Though it has only 10 of the super-jumbos capable of carrying 470 travellers – double the number of Emirates with five and Qantas with four – Singapore Airlines finds it is pulling traffic away from other services at a time when air travel is in the doldrums.

The appeal is not hard to explain. The A380 lifts air travel to a new level – and not just for business and first class passengers who have the widely publicized “suites” and stand-up bars, among other attractions.

The needs of economy passengers have also been upgraded, and with the discounted fares there is no comparison with other laong-haul aircraft. Travellers get more leg room and the same inflight entertainment attractions as the premium passengers, including laptop connections.

Figures from Singapore Airlines, which had its first loss since the 2003 Asian flu outbreak in the June quarter, show the A380s are taking away business from rivals. The planes running at 80% capacity while for Singapore Airline as a whole the average capacity is 72%. The A380s make up less than 10% of the fleet.
The focus has been the services to London and Paris from Singapore as well as Sydney, while in Asia, Singapore Airlines is the only carrier offering services to the commercial centres of Tokyo and Hong Kong.

By contrast, Emirates and Qantas are mainly offering the “Kangaroo route” from Australia to Europe. Though Singapore Airlines has publicly announced it is delaying delivery of the last eight of its initial order of 19 A380s, the lag of a year is likely to match rising demand with the super-jumbo as the aircraft of choice for many.