World's biggest jumbo set for virgin S'pore flight

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The world's biggest jumbo jet was set to fly from Singapore on Thursday on its long-delayed first-ever commercial flight, as part of the Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) daily service to Sydney.

The Airbus' ARBU.UL A380 superjumbo will leave the city-state's Changi Airport at 8 a.m. (8 p.m. Eastern Time), returning to Singapore the following day.

Passengers paid between $560 and $100,380 to be on the inaugural flight, after they had bid for the tickets as part of a charity auction to drum up publicity.

Airbus's new aircraft -- which boasts two passenger decks and, in the Singapore Airlines version, first-class suites with proper beds -- suffered two years of delays caused by wiring glitches, which pushed the planemaker into a loss and led to 10,000 lost jobs.

Singapore Airlines is to take delivery of another five A380s in 2008.