The Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 First Flight Charity Auction has raised nearly Sin$2 million (US$1.35 million) for the event’s four charities with all but 24 seats sold. The remaining 24 seats were reserved for last chance bids. Both legs of the roundtrip flight have seats in Business and Economy classes, and the Sydney-Singapore leg has seats in Suites Class.The first commercial flight of the Airbus 380 worldwide will depart Singapore for Sydney, Australia on October 25th, with a return flight on October 26th. The charities will receive the donations in conjunction with these flights.. Both Médecins Sans Frontières , and the Community Chest of Singapore will receive one third of the funds, with the remaining third being split between Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, and The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
Bidders came from all over the world, with the auction being visited by visitors from over 160 countries, and making up 60% of the bid winners. The remaining winning bidders came from Australia with 15%, Singaporeans with 11%, Britons with 6%, Americans with 4%, and Germans with 3%.
A wide range of ages was also represented. A 76 year old Canadian from Vancouver was the oldest. The youngest winning bidder, a man from San Francisco, will celebrate his 22nd birthday on the day of his flight.
The first Singapore Airlines Suites package on the Singapore-Sydney flight set a record when it went for US$100,380 (Sin$153,000). Another sale included three Suites , two seats in Business Class, and one in Economy for US$56,000 (Sin$85,280). These six seats were also on the Singapore-Sydney leg. The minimum successful bid was US$560 (Sin$853) for an economy seat from Sydney to Singapore.
