The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20071215175343/http://www.atwonline.com:80/news/story.html?storyID=11132
ATW
Daily News
SIA's Chew: A380 pleases, Virgin Atlantic disappoints
Thursday December 13, 2007
Singapore Airlines' new A380 has performed with 100% reliability since the carrier placed it in operation about a month ago, CEO Chew Choong Seng told
ATWOnline
during the Star Alliance event in Beijing.
"The extra time [due to the program delay] was put into good use. They used it to debug the aircraft," he commented, adding that the reception of customers, pilots and cabin crew has been "extremely positive." The aircraft operates on a daily Singapore-Sydney service
(
ATWOnline
, Oct. 26)
, logging some 14 block hr. each day, and achieved an 80% load factor in its first month of operations. For the coming Christmas season it will be 100%, Chew said.
In addition, the 12 first class Singapore Airlines Suites are selling very well, he revealed. "I suspect that our friendly competition is an enthusiastic customer," he laughed. In terms of technical performance, specifically fuel burn, the aircraft is performing better than Airbus promised. "In seat/mile terms we achieve overall a 20% better fuel burn than our 747-400s."
Regarding possible divestment of the 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways that SIA acquired in 2000, Chew said, "We are exploring our options. We have reached no conclusion yet. There is no drain on our P&L; account. We are not in a rush." He said the UK carrier is neither profitable or loss-making and conceded to this website, "To be candid, they are underperforming."
by Cathy Buyck
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