The world's largest passenger airplane Airbus A380 will make its first commercial flight to China ahead of the Olympic Games.

Singapore Airlines will send an A380 jet on one of its three daily flights between Beijing and Singapore during August 2 and August 8.

"A great number of passengers will visit China with the approach of the Olympic Games, so we decided to put the A380 aircraft to serve the busy route to raise passenger volume," Ho Yik Wing, general manager of SIA China, said in Shanghai yesterday.

The aircraft will return to its previous route - between Singapore and London - after completing the task, the carrier said. The A380 has 12 luxury suites, 60 business-class seats and 399 economy-class seats. Passengers can sleep on a stand-alone bed rather than one converted from a seat in the suites.

SIA is the world's first carrier to receive and operate the A380 aircraft and now its super jumbos run on routes between Singapore and Sydney, London and Tokyo.

The carrier has also put a Boeing 777-300ER jet on the Singapore-Beijing route this month and is expected to use it on the Shanghai route soon.

The jets now fly to Barcelona, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Houston, Milan, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul and Zurich from Singapore.

(Shanghai Daily July 17, 2008)