Streamwood trustee aboard inaugural A380 flight
Streamwood village trustee Jason Speer just took the most expensive roundtrip flight of his life for $9,000.
And it was just for fun.
Don't worry, he's not using village funds or tapping an expense account with his employer, Quality Float Works, where he is a vice president.
The 32-year-old manufacturing executive and aviation enthusiast just wanted to be among the first on the maiden voyage of the world's largest commercial jet -- the Airbus A380, via Singapore Airlines.
"I'm flying around the world just to take a flight," Speer said Wednesday via his cell phone just after landing in Singapore.
He few via United Airlines from Chicago to Los Angeles. There, he caught a flight to Taipai and then to Singapore. That portion of his trek took about 24 hours. The A380 historic roundtrip flight from Singapore to Sydney, Australia, was scheduled to take off Wednesday evening local time and return this morning.
"I'm a big aviation enthusiast and this is a unique opportunity. I just had to do it," Speer said.
In March, the Airbus A380 -- the world's largest passenger aircraft -- made its U.S. debut in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago to demonstrate its technology, quietness and fuel efficiency. It overtakes Boeing Co.'s 420-seat 747-700 model as the world's biggest airliner.
The double-decker A380 has a wingspan of 262 feet -- like a football field -- and its fuselage is 239 feet long. It stands nearly 80 feet from the ground to the top of its tail and weights 1.2 million pounds. The interior offers cocktail bars, social areas and winding staircases along with the latest technology in the industry.
The A380, which had been delayed two years in production, partly due to wiring problems, was designed to transport 555 to 800 people on long-haul routes.
Airbus spent roughly $18 billion developing the jet, which has a list price of about $319 million.
Singapore Airlines announced its intention to become an A380 customer in September 2000 with an order for 10 A380s. That order was increased to 19 in July 2006. That commitment, including engines and spares, cost about $5.7 billion, the airline said.
Some competitors say the jumbo jet would be inefficient unless it was filled with at least 500 passengers. Also some airports would need to spend millions to upgrade runways and terminals to accommodate its heavier weight and wider wingspan.
"It's definitely jaw-dropping when you look at it," Mike Boyd, principal and airline analyst with The Boyd Group in Evergreen, Colo., had said when the plane made its U.S. debut.
Speer was eager to fly, just as he did in 2004 when British Airways' offered tickets for the retiring Concorde high-speed aircraft. At that time, he paid about $2,800 to fly coach on the first half of a journey and then later on the Concorde itself.
Speer's $9,000 A380 air fare, along with others on the maiden voyage, will be donated to charity. Other tickets on the luxuryliner ranged from $560 to $100,380.
"It's the most expensive ticket I've ever paid," said Speer. "Yet it was one of the cheapest ones on this flight."