WITH about three months to go before Singapore Airlines starts flying the Airbus 380, the carrier's first fully-fitted and painted superjumbo rolled out of the factory in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday.

The double-decker jet was flown to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, where it will be put through final flight tests.

SIA, which has ordered 19 of the jets, expects to collect its first A-380 in October.

The aircraft will be put into service first on the Sydney route, and later on the London and Tokyo routes.

SIA's second, third and fourth planes are now in Hamburg, undergoing cabin installation and wiring works, the airline's spokesman told The Straits Times.

The A-380, which can seat 555 people in a three-class configuration, is the biggest commercial aircraft ever built.

But SIA is fitting its planes with fewer than 480 seats to enhance passenger comfort.

The airline's first batch of seven pilots left for Toulouse about two weeks ago, for simulator and actual flight training.

In all, close to 40 pilots will be trained there. After that, training will be done in Singapore using SIA's new A-380 simulator, which will be operational by September.

Airbus, which has about 170 orders for the aircraft from 15 airlines including Emirates and Qantas, has been hit by production delays because of wiring complications. This has pushed the jet's entry into commercial service two years behind the original schedule.

Photo: Singapore Airlines