Steve Creedy, Aviation writer September 19, 2008
IT is two years late. It resulted in compensation to Qantas of more than $200 million, upset the airline's fleet plans and handed an arch-rival a bigger than expected competitive advantage.

The first Airbus A380 with Qantas livery waits at Toulouse for its delivery flight to Sydney. It is scheduled to arrive on Sunday. Picture: AP
But it will be all smiles today as Qantas finally takes delivery of its first flagship Airbus A380 in the European plane maker's home town of Toulouse.
The giant plane is due to take off just before midnight tonight, Toulouse time, and will fly via Singapore to land in Sydney about 9am (AEDT) on Sunday.
The plane is due to enter commercial service on the Melbourne-Los Angeles route on October 20, with Sydney-Los Angeles following four days later.
It is due to go head to head with Singapore Airlines' A380 service on the Sydney-Singapore-London route from January.
If Singapore is anything to go by, the new plane should slide into service with minimal hiccups.
The double-decker superjumbo has already been flying commercially for almost a year and the Singaporean carrier, which now has half a dozen of the giant planes, says it has been its smoothest ever entry into service.
One reason for this is that the production delays that have plagued the aircraft, most of them due to a screw-up in the design and installation of wiring, allowed Airbus to extensively test the plane's sophisticated technology.
This has allowed the manufacturer to fix some of the bugs that might ordinarily have remained when it entered service.
Qantas will be the third airline to get the plane. Dubai-based Emirates received its first A380 last month and quickly flew a commercial service to New York. There is speculation Emirates might boost its current order of 20 aircraft.
That would likely be welcomed by financial analysts, who say the new aircraft can generate significant cost savings.
But it should also please environmentalists and people living near airports. The plane is the first of a new breed of more environmentally friendly aircraft. A person travelling 100km in one of its new seats uses only three litres of fuel, or about the same as a hybrid car.
The plane is also significantly quieter than its predecessor.
Airservices Australia tests have shown it's between 2.3 and 6.7 decibels quieter than a Boeing 747-400 during take-off and 2.1 to 3.7 decibels quieter than the same plane during landing. This is partly due to a new design of aerodynamics and partly to a new breed of engine.
The superjumbo is powered by massive Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, each with a diameter of almost 10ft and capable of developing a sea-level static thrust of 72,000lbs.
At take-off, the four engines on the A380 deliver a thrust equivalent to the power of more than 3500 cars and its hollow, titanium fan blades suck in more than 1.25 tonnes of air every second as the tips travel at 1.3 times the speed of sound.
Qantas pilots have been training extensively to fly the new plane. Those spoken to by The Australian say it is enjoyable to fly and particularly stable when landing.
The pilots have been training at the airline's $34 million simulator at Mascot and many have been to Toulouse to try their hand at the real thing. More than 60 flight crew have now trained on the simulator to become the vanguard of a small army of about 560 pilots who will eventually take charge of the 20 A380s.
The A380 is also proving a hit with passengers, who invariably remark on how quiet the cabin is compared to other planes.
Airlines that have the aircraft so far have adopted it as their flagship and kitted it out to be the showpiece of their fleets. This means seating configurations below the Airbus-recommended optimum and new features such as lounges, bars, showers and luxurious first class seats.
In Qantas's case, this means 450 seats with 14 in first, 72 in business, 32 in premium economy and 332 economy.
Marc Newson was brought in to design the aircraft's interior and customers were drafted to test the comfort of its seats. Those able to shell out for first-class comfort will get a private suite with a 17in widescreen video monitor and seat that swivels into an armchair of a fully-flat extra long and wide bed. Business class features a private lounge area on the upper deck with leather sofas, a self-service bar and big-screen monitor that can be connected to a laptop for presentations. One of the more interesting decisions by Qantas was to stick with an enhanced version of its existing business class Skybed rather than follow the Singapore and Emirates lead and design an entirely new product for the premium cabin. The new version of the Skybed reclines to fully flat position, is 203cm away from the seat in front of it and in a two-two-two layout that eliminates the dreaded middle seat. Other changes include a bigger monitor that is now in the seat as well as new storage options. Qantas says the decision to stick with Skybed was a product of consumer research. "What our research was telling us was that we had the fundamentals right and the key ingredient we needed to work on was the fully flat," Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti told The Australian recently. "In doing that, though, we also improved other features. We improved privacy, we improved storage and we improved the video screen. It's no longer in the seat in front of you because the seat in front of you is farther away. And we improved its comfort." The premium economy cabin, also on the upper deck and behind the business cabin, features an ergonomically designed seat that is wider and has more leg room than economy. Passengers in cattle class should also get more space with a new design of seat by manufacturer Recaro that includes a carbon fibre seat back, an articulating base and flexible front edge. Everybody will get access to a new Panasonic entertainment system with more than 100 on-demand movies, 350 television selections, 500 audio CDs, 30 PC-style games and a selection of audio books and radio. And to help passengers adapt to their destination, the new system will feature Lonely Planet guides as well as language tutorials. Just which airline will emerge the victor in the battle of the big planes remains to be seen, but passengers appear to have already scored wins.

Steve Creedy flew to Toulouse courtesy of Qantas

Sweet treats from laypeng!!:D had chinese oral today and was kind 'hell'! laypeng's a pure joker. She called me regards to oral and she actually ask the examiner for the conversation question paper!! lolX....relax lp....you'll pass~

Made mooncakes #2 round yesterday! Had a whole lot of fun~

Battle of the Balls!

Went up to the hill-lock at my estate and we burnt;play;laugh;and did crazy things.






Campfire's burning~burnt burnt burnt

Ghost on eve of Mid-Autumn!!

...

...

...

...

...

...

G=Glenn;Generous;Great;Gracious......i m so bhb...lolX

Lets all end Mid-Autumn Festival with a candle campfire... ...

So called 'CIP' trip did today. =X

I send a dedication to 3C and Ms Phang via Muttons to midnight!!! And they read out Bukit Batok Sec when I sent stating Bukit Merah Sec!!...zz...anyway at least true friends know that it was me who sent the message thought they read the school wrongly^^oh yea...You are the best! Ms phang!~

I doubt I'll be able to sleep well tonight. Getai shows are like 'LIVE' yesterday and today night. Yeserday was so damn weird. It started rainning heavily halfway during the Getai and I was like 'wow! did they not do a good job and offended the gods or something?' HAHx...the show continued....and then I heard a lady sing MARIA!!!!!!! AVE MARIA!!!!!!!!!alright...it's supposed to be hokkien songs being sung right? The world is just so modern today...

I see cats and dogs fallin'

Was more of like a 10 hrs camp instead. Brought snacks, chocolates, sweets and survival kits!
Survival kit checklist~
1) Laptop
2) Games
3) Movies
4) Music
without it, all of us would be bored to death! Roy and me were like squeezing in a small booth to watch movies and play game. Had the laptop placed under the table and refrees kept thinking that we were communicating with the outside world as we were quarantined and not allow to use hp...blah blah blah...whole lot of junk rules!

Went to SP to explore a course that I intend to take after 'O's-Aeronautical Engineering! It was so fun and made me wanna' graduate sooner...tea reception was awesommmme...delicious food and yeah performances were great toooo.

Encore of I'm Yours!~

Bus on the way back was totally empty on the upper deck!

Taby turns 2 today!(14 humans age). Bought him an XL bone to chew on...

Made mooncakes today and made a total of 40 including two XL ones if I'm right. Was kinda of tiring and all of us lost the drive to continue making and had a huge amount of left over excess snowskin made...

Size XL for Ms phang and Ms chong

nice uh?0.o?



The first and nicest made^^

Jocelyn requested for eggz

The ugly ones....

After re-doin the ugly ones....

Glenn Ong s.k
1D, 2D, 3C.
Just a kid who's extremely into aerospace and funs!
Lives in a world of aerospace.
Age:15+
D.O.B:21 May 1993

Steve Creedy, Aviation writer September 19, 2008
IT is two years late. It resulted in compensation to Qantas of more than $200 million, upset the airline's fleet plans and handed an arch-rival a bigger than expected competitive advantage.

The first Airbus A380 with Qantas livery waits at Toulouse for its delivery flight to Sydney. It is scheduled to arrive on Sunday. Picture: AP
But it will be all smiles today as Qantas finally takes delivery of its first flagship Airbus A380 in the European plane maker's home town of Toulouse.
The giant plane is due to take off just before midnight tonight, Toulouse time, and will fly via Singapore to land in Sydney about 9am (AEDT) on Sunday.
The plane is due to enter commercial service on the Melbourne-Los Angeles route on October 20, with Sydney-Los Angeles following four days later.
It is due to go head to head with Singapore Airlines' A380 service on the Sydney-Singapore-London route from January.
If Singapore is anything to go by, the new plane should slide into service with minimal hiccups.
The double-decker superjumbo has already been flying commercially for almost a year and the Singaporean carrier, which now has half a dozen of the giant planes, says it has been its smoothest ever entry into service.
One reason for this is that the production delays that have plagued the aircraft, most of them due to a screw-up in the design and installation of wiring, allowed Airbus to extensively test the plane's sophisticated technology.
This has allowed the manufacturer to fix some of the bugs that might ordinarily have remained when it entered service.
Qantas will be the third airline to get the plane. Dubai-based Emirates received its first A380 last month and quickly flew a commercial service to New York. There is speculation Emirates might boost its current order of 20 aircraft.
That would likely be welcomed by financial analysts, who say the new aircraft can generate significant cost savings.
But it should also please environmentalists and people living near airports. The plane is the first of a new breed of more environmentally friendly aircraft. A person travelling 100km in one of its new seats uses only three litres of fuel, or about the same as a hybrid car.
The plane is also significantly quieter than its predecessor.
Airservices Australia tests have shown it's between 2.3 and 6.7 decibels quieter than a Boeing 747-400 during take-off and 2.1 to 3.7 decibels quieter than the same plane during landing. This is partly due to a new design of aerodynamics and partly to a new breed of engine.
The superjumbo is powered by massive Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, each with a diameter of almost 10ft and capable of developing a sea-level static thrust of 72,000lbs.
At take-off, the four engines on the A380 deliver a thrust equivalent to the power of more than 3500 cars and its hollow, titanium fan blades suck in more than 1.25 tonnes of air every second as the tips travel at 1.3 times the speed of sound.
Qantas pilots have been training extensively to fly the new plane. Those spoken to by The Australian say it is enjoyable to fly and particularly stable when landing.
The pilots have been training at the airline's $34 million simulator at Mascot and many have been to Toulouse to try their hand at the real thing. More than 60 flight crew have now trained on the simulator to become the vanguard of a small army of about 560 pilots who will eventually take charge of the 20 A380s.
The A380 is also proving a hit with passengers, who invariably remark on how quiet the cabin is compared to other planes.
Airlines that have the aircraft so far have adopted it as their flagship and kitted it out to be the showpiece of their fleets. This means seating configurations below the Airbus-recommended optimum and new features such as lounges, bars, showers and luxurious first class seats.
In Qantas's case, this means 450 seats with 14 in first, 72 in business, 32 in premium economy and 332 economy.
Marc Newson was brought in to design the aircraft's interior and customers were drafted to test the comfort of its seats. Those able to shell out for first-class comfort will get a private suite with a 17in widescreen video monitor and seat that swivels into an armchair of a fully-flat extra long and wide bed. Business class features a private lounge area on the upper deck with leather sofas, a self-service bar and big-screen monitor that can be connected to a laptop for presentations. One of the more interesting decisions by Qantas was to stick with an enhanced version of its existing business class Skybed rather than follow the Singapore and Emirates lead and design an entirely new product for the premium cabin. The new version of the Skybed reclines to fully flat position, is 203cm away from the seat in front of it and in a two-two-two layout that eliminates the dreaded middle seat. Other changes include a bigger monitor that is now in the seat as well as new storage options. Qantas says the decision to stick with Skybed was a product of consumer research. "What our research was telling us was that we had the fundamentals right and the key ingredient we needed to work on was the fully flat," Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti told The Australian recently. "In doing that, though, we also improved other features. We improved privacy, we improved storage and we improved the video screen. It's no longer in the seat in front of you because the seat in front of you is farther away. And we improved its comfort." The premium economy cabin, also on the upper deck and behind the business cabin, features an ergonomically designed seat that is wider and has more leg room than economy. Passengers in cattle class should also get more space with a new design of seat by manufacturer Recaro that includes a carbon fibre seat back, an articulating base and flexible front edge. Everybody will get access to a new Panasonic entertainment system with more than 100 on-demand movies, 350 television selections, 500 audio CDs, 30 PC-style games and a selection of audio books and radio. And to help passengers adapt to their destination, the new system will feature Lonely Planet guides as well as language tutorials. Just which airline will emerge the victor in the battle of the big planes remains to be seen, but passengers appear to have already scored wins.

Steve Creedy flew to Toulouse courtesy of Qantas

Sweet treats from laypeng!!:D had chinese oral today and was kind 'hell'! laypeng's a pure joker. She called me regards to oral and she actually ask the examiner for the conversation question paper!! lolX....relax lp....you'll pass~

Made mooncakes #2 round yesterday! Had a whole lot of fun~

Battle of the Balls!

Went up to the hill-lock at my estate and we burnt;play;laugh;and did crazy things.






Campfire's burning~burnt burnt burnt

Ghost on eve of Mid-Autumn!!

...

...

...

...

...

...

G=Glenn;Generous;Great;Gracious......i m so bhb...lolX

Lets all end Mid-Autumn Festival with a candle campfire... ...

So called 'CIP' trip did today. =X

I send a dedication to 3C and Ms Phang via Muttons to midnight!!! And they read out Bukit Batok Sec when I sent stating Bukit Merah Sec!!...zz...anyway at least true friends know that it was me who sent the message thought they read the school wrongly^^oh yea...You are the best! Ms phang!~

I doubt I'll be able to sleep well tonight. Getai shows are like 'LIVE' yesterday and today night. Yeserday was so damn weird. It started rainning heavily halfway during the Getai and I was like 'wow! did they not do a good job and offended the gods or something?' HAHx...the show continued....and then I heard a lady sing MARIA!!!!!!! AVE MARIA!!!!!!!!!alright...it's supposed to be hokkien songs being sung right? The world is just so modern today...

I see cats and dogs fallin'

Was more of like a 10 hrs camp instead. Brought snacks, chocolates, sweets and survival kits!
Survival kit checklist~
1) Laptop
2) Games
3) Movies
4) Music
without it, all of us would be bored to death! Roy and me were like squeezing in a small booth to watch movies and play game. Had the laptop placed under the table and refrees kept thinking that we were communicating with the outside world as we were quarantined and not allow to use hp...blah blah blah...whole lot of junk rules!

Went to SP to explore a course that I intend to take after 'O's-Aeronautical Engineering! It was so fun and made me wanna' graduate sooner...tea reception was awesommmme...delicious food and yeah performances were great toooo.

Encore of I'm Yours!~

Bus on the way back was totally empty on the upper deck!

Taby turns 2 today!(14 humans age). Bought him an XL bone to chew on...

Made mooncakes today and made a total of 40 including two XL ones if I'm right. Was kinda of tiring and all of us lost the drive to continue making and had a huge amount of left over excess snowskin made...

Size XL for Ms phang and Ms chong

nice uh?0.o?



The first and nicest made^^

Jocelyn requested for eggz

The ugly ones....

After re-doin the ugly ones....

Annabelle
Edwin
Jia Min
Jocelyn
Lay Peng
Pei Ying
Shu Juan
Wei Ai
Weng Cheng
Zhong Ren