London to Sydney on an A380

Singapore Airlines' Airbus A380 service from Singapore to Heathrow is now a reality. The double-decker aircraft will operate to a specially-built £100m pier at Terminal 3 which has space for four A380s - Emirates will operate them to Heathrow from Dubai on 1 December. Airlines at Heathrow have ordered 168 A380s according to BAA, which expects to handle 65 of the aircraft at the airport daily by 2015.

It is Singapore's second A380 route after it began operating to Sydney last October. It will also fly to Tokyo from 20 May. There are 12 first class 'suites' and 62 business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration with a 34" width coupled with 55" pitch. The SIA A380 will operate the overnight service: flight SQ 322 departs Singapore daily at 23:20, arriving in London at 05:25. The return leg departs 11:00, arriving 07:40. From 30 March departure times change to 23:30 from Singapore and 11:55 from London as the summer schedule begins.

British Airways won the maintenance contract for SIA's A380s at Heathrow. It will begin operating its first super-jumbos from April 2012 at Terminal 5. The A380 produces 'only a quarter of the noise level of the 747' under the Heathrow noise classification system says BA, and accordingly it is considering using the aircraft on routes which arrive early in the morning - from Singapore, Hong Kong and Johannesburg. It claims this is for the benefit of residents near the airport.