Please don’t mention the F-word
SINGAPORE: The world’s biggest observation wheel has gone on its first spin with corporate clients paying thousands of dollars for the inaugural flight on Monday night.
At 165 metres or 42-storey high, the Singapore Flyer will be 30 metres higher than Britain’s London Eye, said Great Wheel Corp, which built the Singapore attraction.
“We’re actually ahead of time and on budget,” David Beevers, general manager of the Singapore Flyer, told AFP from the waterfront site.
The attraction’s first three nights were sold out, Beevers said.
Companies and individuals paid S$8,888 (US$6,260), an auspicious number in Chinese culture, for the first rides.
The Flyer opens fully to the public on March 1.
The Singapore Flyer’s 28 capsules – each about the size of a city bus – are air-conditioned and can hold up to 28 people.
Passengers can walk around and will not feel movement or vibration during the 30-minute ride, the company said.
Developers of Singapore Flyer said there was no comparison between a giant, slowly rotating observation wheel and a Ferris wheel. ”We don’t use the F-word,” said Florian Bollen, the chairman of Singapore Flyer.
For S$29.50, walk-in passengers will get a 360-degree view of up to 45 kilometres across the island republic and into neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia on the 30-minute ride.
Bollen’s Singapore-based company, Great Wheel Corp, is also building wheels in Beijing and Berlin which will edge out the Singapore Flyer as the world’s biggest when they begin turning in about two years, he said.
Singapore’s wheel is located across from the Marina Bay Sands casino complex, set to open in 2009, and is near the pit area of a Formula One Grand Prix street race to be held for the first time in the city-state in September.
Ian Jarrett
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