IF you'd like to be among the lucky few to fly to the 2008 Beijing Olympics on the world's biggest passenger plane, here's your chance.

Singapore Airlines will use an Airbus A380 on one of its thrice-daily flights between Singapore and Beijing for one week during the Games in early August.

The first A380 flight - SQ802 - will leave Singapore at 08:30 local time on Saturday, Aug 2, and arrive in Beijing at 14:40 local time. On the return journey, SQ805 will leave Beijing at 17:05 local time and touch down in Singapore at 23:20 local time.

The Airbus A380 will operate daily until Friday, Aug 8, after which the service will revert to the usual Boeing 777 aircraft.

SIA is the first airline to receive and operate the A380. The first plane started a Singapore-Sydney service on Oct 25 last year. A Singapore-London service kicked off about two months ago, on March 18. And a Singapore-Tokyo service will start on May 20.

Passengers who want to fly the A380 to Beijing can buy tickets on www.singaporeair.com or through their travel agent.

Customers who hold tickets to Beijing on flights to be operated by the A380 will be automatically accommodated on the new aircraft.

Separately, SIA said yesterday that it will raise its fuel surcharge for tickets issued on or after May 12 because of a sustained increase in the price of jet fuel to more than US$140 a barrel.

The new levels will apply to SIA and SilkAir flights as follows:

- US$35 (up from US$30) per sector for flights between Singapore and Asean countries.

- US$150 (up from US$130) per sector for flights between Singapore and gateways in the US and Canada on a single-sector basis.

- US$95 (up from US$80) per sector on all other flights.

The new levels are subject to official approval in some markets, and local variations may apply where regulatory approvals dictate.

'The adjustments will offer only partial relief from higher operating costs,' SIA said.

It will keep the surcharge under active review, the airline added.