The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, has taken off on its first commercial flight - from Singapore to Sydney, Australia.
Singapore Airlines took delivery of the huge plane dubbed the Superjumbo just over a week ago and passengers bought seats in a charity online auction.
It can carry some 850 passengers but is carrying about 450 to Sydney.
The Superjumbo's advent ends a reign of nearly four decades by the Boeing 747 as the world's biggest airliner.
The new aircraft suffered almost two years of delays because of a number of construction problems but took off on time on Wednesday.
The BBC's Rajan Datar reports from aboard the plane that the journey is going smoothly.
Hundreds of staff and passengers at Singapore's Changi Airport watched it lift into the sky, snapping the moment with pocket cameras and camera phones.
"I'm a big airplane freak and I love everything about planes," passenger Ernest Graaff told Reuters news agency before he boarded the liner.
He had paid $40,000 for two business-class tickets on the jet.
"I'm excited about being a part of history," he added before the seven-hour flight.
Passengers paid between $560 and $100,380 to be on the inaugural flight, Reuters notes. ( BBC )