For the second time in as many weeks, British Airways welcomed a brand new aircraft type to its fleet. Having taken delivery of its first Boeing 787-8 last week, this week saw the arrival of the airline’s first Airbus A380-800.
G-XLEA, the first of 12 Airbus A380 aircraft for British Airways on its delivery flight to London-Heathrow © Paul Dunn – www.globalaviationresource.com
The aircraft touched down on Heathrow’s Runway 27L at 1030 local having been flown from the Airbus factory at Toulouse by a BA crew having been appropriately flight planned as BAW380. Registered G-XLEA (MSN 095, formerly F-WWSK), the aircraft is the first of twelve firm orders to be delivered making BA the first UK operator of the Airbus super jumbo, and the tenth worldwide.
Final approach to Runway 27L for G-XLEA © Paul Dunn – www.globalaviationresource.com
BA is gearing up to introduce the A380 into service; to that end, the first aircraft will shortly begin crew training flights before commencing revenue operations, which are expected to initally take place on BA’s European network.
With the vast majority of other arrivals landing on Runway 27R this morning, the assembled crowd was relatively small for G-XLEA’s arrival on the other runway © Paul Dunn – www.globalaviationresource.com
Tickets for the first long haul services to Los Angeles and Hong Kong have been on sale on ba.com for some time. The arrival of the second and third aircraft (G-XLEB and G-XLEC) later in the year will allow these services to begin in October and November respectively.
A matter of seconds away from G-XLEA’s first landing at London-Heathrow Airport © Paul Dunn – www.globalaviationresource.com
Thanks for these shots, Paul. I heard from a colleague that this would be the day, and I think I see him in one of your photos. Am I right in thinking Frankfurt and Stockholm?