Diners have rushed to pay up to £360 per head to eat a meal on a stationary plane, in the latest sign of public appetite to recreate the onboard experience without travelling.
Singapore Airlines launched a waiting list after tickets rapidly sold out for two weekends of sittings onboard two stationary A380 superjumbos, with meals at seats and the chance to watch a movie, albeit no longer in-flight.
Guests will get a meal from the standard Singapore Airlines menu, with S$642 (£360) buying the full works in a suite – or £30 per head for the tray in economy. Frequent flyers could also cash in points towards a meal.
All tickets were snapped up in less than half an hour for the pop-up Restaurant A380, the airline told Bloomberg. About half of the 471 seats on each of the airline’s double-decker superjumbos, parked at Changi airport, were expected to be available with social distancing in place.
Diners in Singapore who missed out are able to pay S$888 (£501) for the airline’s first-class dining experience at home, including delivery of tableware, slippers and amenity kits.
It is the latest in a line of revenue-raising initiatives by cash-strapped airlines, which have collectively lost tens of billions during the pandemic. “Flights to nowhere” have proved popular across Asia, with the Taiwanese carrier EVA selling joyrides from Taipei and Japan’s ANA laying on Hawaii-themed flights after its service to Honolulu was suspended.
The Australian carrier Qantas recently swiftly sold out a sightseeing trip on a 787 Dreamliner that flew around the country from Sydney and back, with the airline’s international travel schedule halted.
The ill-fated A380, once seen as the future of mass international air travel, was one of the first models to be grounded by many carriers when the outbreak of Covid-19 led to demand for flights drying up this year. Airbus had already decided to discontinue production, and some of the first A380s built – once operated by Singapore Airlines – have already been sent for scrappage.
Coronavirus has also made the A380’s illustrious predecessor, the Boeing 747, largely redundant for passenger use, although it continues as a cargo plane. British Airways retired the last pair of 747s in its fleet last week.
