Singapore Airlines has begun a week of special A380 flights to Beijing, host city of the 2008 Olympics Games.The special A380 daily service flies from today to 8 August 2008, to cater for the higher demands for travel to Beijing, in the week leading up to the Olympic Games.
The inaugural A380 flight to China, SQ802, carrying 385 customers and 25 crew, departed Singapore Changi Airport at 0840hrs today and is scheduled to arrive at Beijing’s Capital International Airport at 1450hrs. On the return flight, SQ805 is scheduled to depart Beijing at 1705hrs and touch down in Singapore at 2320hrs (all times local).
Adding a sporting edge to the historic flight are 12 athletes and 18 officials from the Team Singapore contingent of the Olympic Games, led by its Chef De Mission, Dr Tan Eng Liang. They are part of the largest Team Singapore contingent to take part in the Games since 1956.
Over the next week, several hundred athletes from almost a dozen countries will fly the A380 to Beijing to compete in the Games.
Both SQ802 and SQ805 services will revert to the normal scheduled Boeing 777 aircraft after 8 August 2008.
Singapore Airlines currently operates 66 weekly flights to four cities in China, including, 35 weekly flights to Shanghai, three weekly flights to Nanjing, seven weekly flights to Guangzhou and 21 weekly flights to Beijing.
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