After 18 years in production, the last ever built Airbus A380 has taken off for her maiden flight to Hamburg, Germany; leaving the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France for the last time.
On 17th March, around 13:00 the last A380 built, with test registration F-WWSH, took off from Toulouse; to mark this event she performed a low pass with a wing-wave above the factory, landing in Hamburg after 3 hours and 10 minutes of flight. This comes almost two years after Airbus announced the caseation of production of the superjumbo.
Last week the aircraft, with fabrication number MSN 272, started her preparations for the big day, turning on the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines for the first time and performing engine runs and taxiing tests.
In Hamburg the aircraft will be painted and then later on it will be delivered to Emirates, with registration A6-EVS. Until now the Dubai-based airline has received 118 of their 123 A380’s that they have a firm order for.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury tweeted:
Cover Photo: Twitter/Aviation Toulouse