First look at British Airways’ new A380

BA’s first A380 is now being built. The airline is tipped to be the world’s first to have both A380s and 787 Dreamliners in its fleet.

The forward fuselage of BA's first A380 being assembled at the Airbus A380 Facility, Hamburg

It’s been a long time coming, but British Airways’ first A380 has finally made it onto the assembly line.

The superjumbo- the first of 12 A380s on BA’s order books – will fly its first passengers in late 2013, when the airline also expects to receive its first 787 Dreamliner.

The airline hasn’t yet announced how it will use the space on board its A380s -  or the routes the jets will serve.

But in March the chief financial officer for BA’s parent group IAG told Bloomberg reporters that the A380s would fly “very well known routes”, which could include Heathrow to New York and popular Asian destinations like Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore.

The parts of BA’s A380 are being built all over Europe.

Large sections of the fuselage are being assembled and equipped in Hamburg (Germany); the nose and centre fuselage in Saint Nazaire and Meaulte (France); the tailfin in Stade (France) and horizontal tail plane in Spain.

The undercarriage will be assembled in Canada and France; the wings in Flintshire, North Wales and the four Rolls Royce engines in Derbyshire.

BA’s order for 36 aircraft – 12 A380s and 24 787s is the largest the airline has made in more than a decade.