It’s official! Singapore Airlines (Singapore) encountered its first major technical glitch with its four month old A380 forcing cancellation of a flight from Singapore to Sydney last night that left 70 passengers stranded without a hotel room. The airline confirmed that it was forced to ground the superjumbo overnight due to a problem with a fuel pump. According to a spokesman from Singapore Airlines, a replacement pump did nothing to solve the problem. Given the fact that Singapore Airlines’ second A380 was undergoing maintance, the flight had to be replaced with a Boeing 747-400. Since a 747 doesn’t carry as many passengers as an A380, some of the travellers were required to be left behind until they could be accomodated on a later flight. Because of this weeks’ airshow in Singapore, there were few hotel rooms to be had.
Photo: Last month Airbus had boasted that the A380 delivered to Singapore Airlines last October had been operating between Sydney and Singapore around 15 hours per day with a 100% technical reliability. (Photo Copyright Frikkie Bekker)
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02/18/08 @ 22:30 
Singapore Airlines encounters first A380 glitch 
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