QANTAS A380 takes off!

QANTAS? A380 has taken off from Melbourne on its first commercial flight

QANTAS? sole A380 is currently on its first commercial flight. The super-jumbo is currently on its way to Los Angeles having departed from Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport at 11:30 this morning.

For QANTAS, it?s been a long wait to get the beast off the ground with paying passengers onboard. The plane was delivered two years after its due date, and QANTAS had to watch Singapore Airlines and Emirates show off their new A380s before the Flying Kangaroo got one for itself to play with.

The inaugural flight from Melbourne to Los Angles has 450 passengers onboard and is configured with 14 first class suites, 72 business class seats, 32 premium economy seats and 332 economy seats. QANTAS has ordered 20 of the giant aircraft, all of which should be in service by 2013.

QANTAS says the A380 will deliver up to 10 per cent better fuel efficiency than today?s larger aircrafts. It also reduces noise emissions, cutting the noise at take off by half. While QANTAS states the flight is ?almost silent? PopSci.com.au spies (OK, the author of this story and people he knows) who have travelled on the A380 noticed reduced cabin noise by comparison to a Boeing 747, but not silence.

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