British Airways A380 European Flights

[1970s Spotter]

Does anybody have any details as to which flights BA's A380s will operate BEFORE entering long-haul service?
I gather the first a/c is being delivered after the Paris Air Show in July and will enter servce on the LHR-Frankfurt route in early August. Have flight numbers been allocated or will the allocation be random?

[cornishsimon]

Thought they had decided against this?

cs

[hampshireandy]

try posting this on the BA thread, you may get more responses.

[canberra97]

Nothing has yet been confirmed regarding BA A380 flights prior to entering long haul service although on other aviation site forums Frankfurt has been mentioned most probably the BA 902/903.

I am following this story every day waiting for BA to announce something as I have promised to take my father on one of them if they do happen.

If anything is announced I shall post it on here as there is hardly anything ever posted on the BA forum.

[no sponsor]

At a briefing the other day, it was stated that Hanover or Hamburg. Sorry I can't remember which city, but it was in Germany, and began with an H!

[Narrow Runway]

Heidelburg, I reckon...........

[racedo]

Hahn .......................oops no thats Frankfurt:E

[canberra97]

'No Sponser'

BA only serve two destinations in Germany beginning with H, Hamburg and Hannover so I guess your assuming either?

I for one do not expect BA to be flying the A380 to either of those destinations.

At your 'briefing' are you not getting a bit mixed up with where the BA 380s are now as in the the Airbus Facility at Hamburg-Finkenwerder XFW.

[no sponsor]

I'm pretty sure the manager said Hanover, but I could be wrong. I know we fly to Hamburg too. These are training flights for the crews to gain some line experience. The sectors are long enough for there to be training value for line training. As already said, they are replacing regular A32X services, so limited sales tickets, just in case there is a hiccup, and they don't have to send 3 A32X's to pick up stranded passengers in case there is a technical problem, or some other issue to prevent the 380 operating.

There will be a few other destinations. At first, base training will be at UK airfields. As I said, I'm pretty sure it was Hanover, but if I'm wrong, it was definitely in Germany with an H!

[onyxcrowle]

Dsa has a long runway if you want to bring it up here

[mathers_wales_uk]

They can bring it over to Cardiff if they want to as well especially to test the facilities for a longhaul alternate. :-)

[adfly]

Yeah and how about SOU to test the short field performance... :}

[Wycombe]

I've read elsewhere that base trainng will be at Manston.

[Heathrow Harry]

'twas in "Flight" a couple of weeks back

[FR-]

Madrid

fr-

[no sponsor]

Madrid is too politically sensitive for IAG.

[Off Stand]

It'll be FRA, not MAD.

[nigel osborne]

Mathers Wales,

Not sure Cardiff is CAA A380 approved yet ?

LGW,MAN, and BHX are .

Nigel

[BAladdy]

Not sure Cardiff is CAA A380 approved yet ?

LGW,MAN, and BHX are .

How about PIK, BA have recently opened a maintainance base there. At the moment it is used along with the maintainance facility at GLA for A320 family and 737 engineering work.

Wonder if PIK is were the A380's will end up being maintained.

Nothing has yet been confirmed regarding BA A380 flights prior to entering long haul service although on other aviation site forums Frankfurt has been mentioned most probably the BA 902/903.

BA902/BA903 rotation looking more likely.

BA have just retimed the BA902 and BA903 starting the 31 July. However flights still showing as 767 operated. The retiming of the flights will see the turnaround time in FRA extended from 1hr 10 to 1hr 40. Which is plenty of time to turn around the A380.

Until 30th July

BA902 LHR 07:00 FRA 09:45 767 D
BA903 FRA 10:55 LHR 11:40 767 D

From 31st July

BA902 LHR 06:45 FRA 09:30 767 D
BA903 FRA 11:10 LHR 11:50 767 D

[VentureGo]

British Airways A380 MSN95 reg. F-WWWSK is currently on flight tests over Germany as AIB95E - Just heading over Osnabruck toward Hamburg at 42,100ft and 580mph (Flightradar24.com)

[mathers_wales_uk]

Not sure Cardiff is CAA A380 approved yet ?

I'm not sure either however when the A380s come online with BA this might change if they aren't already in the application process.

There were rumours that British Airways have been at CWL taking measurements and the question was asked in the Consultative Committee Meeting at the end of last year. No response provided by the airport however.

[Hemustvthemes]

Ive heard that BA arent promoting it due to Operational reasons.

Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks :)

[j636]

Ive heard that BA arent promoting it due to Operational reasons.

Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/smile.gif

The A380 will be in Cardiff on Monday and Shannon on Tuesday for around 2 hours.

[The SSK]

From the horse'[s mouth

To help prepare for their entry into service, both the A380 and the 787 will be used for flight and cabin crew training including a period of shorthaul flying during August and September - Frankfurt for the A380 and Stockholm for the 787.

We are not planning to communicate the flight numbers or dates the aircraft will operate these routes, as there may be last minute changes to the schedule.

•A380 flights to/from Franfurt will be capped to either a 767 or A320 configuration to allow for standby aircraft coverage. This means we will not be selling the A380 to its full seating capacity. We will not be accepting passengers above the capped configuration of the aircraft.
•787 flights to/from Stockholm will be operated to full capacity

[mathers_wales_uk]

From Cardiff Airport

Monday, 29th July 2013, will see the first visit of British Airways new Airbus double deck A380 'Superjumbo' airliner to Cardiff Airport. It is due to arrive at aproximately 0845hrs and will depart at 1400hrs having visitied British Airways Maintenance Base.

THERE IS NO ACCESS TO VIEW THIS FINE AIRCRAFT FROM THE TERMINAL BUILDING.

Please respect all no waiting rules on highways, South Wales Police are to deploy staff to control parking. We would recommend that all parties visiting to view park at the South Side of the airport in Rhoose Village, where limited access and parking is available at The Cambrian Restaurant www.thecambrian-rhoose.co.uk/event.html (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecambrian-rhoose.co.uk%2Fevent.html&h=UAQFgO8xG&s=1)

[Hemustvthemes]

Thanks for that!

I was hoping to do that route, but seems risky as you dont know when it will fly replacing those aircraft!

Will have to look at the main destinations when they start full service :)

[Mr A Tis]

How very British (BA) !!
A missed opportunity for some good PR & sales.
Hardly a test for the cabin crew if it's more than two thirds empty :-(

[no sponsor]

Cabin crew have already spent several hours in a dummy flight with the A380 sat on the ground with a full compliment of passengers (which were all BA staff volunteers). The shorter flight in Europe are to get flight crew through line training. There's a lot of training to be done, and not just pilots and cabin crew.

[canberra97]

I am very dissapointed that BA could not have made it official some time back regarding there A380 flights to Frankfurt as I had promised to take my father on one of them redeeming BA Avios but I informed him yesterday it was off as I could not take the risk of booking it and the flight being subsituted by another aircraft.

It would have been a total waste of time and money if I had arrived at the gate and found a B767 or A320 but I understand BA's view on this as was stated by someone earlier.

It is a real shame as he was looking forward to the opportunity of seeing and also flying on an Airbus A380 and seeing he is nearly 77yo he might not get the chance to fly long haul on it so this would have been a nice day out for us both as I had also told him there was a great viewing area at Frankfurt Airport. :sad:

[vkid]

Nice photo here (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=85758451&postcount=30) of the A380 and A318 in Shannon today.

Surprsed at how quiet it is, for the size of it. Beautiful machine.