British Airways, the UK’s national airline, has announced its plans to fly an Airbus A380 to South Africa starting February next year.
BA’s new A380 route was announced with model Georgia May Jagger and rugby players Chris Robshaw, Jean de Villiers and Bryan Habana.
The BA superjumbo service from London Heathrow to Johannesburg will initially operate three times per week when it launches on February 12, 2014. Effective from March 10, this will increase to six flights per week. The A380 flights will be incorporated into BA’s normal schedule to the city.
Johannesburg is the third destination that the airline plans to serve with the A380. The first, a five-weekly service to Los Angeles, is scheduled to begin on September 24. This will increase to double-daily flights from April 10 next year. The superjumbo is due to begin flying daily to Hong Kong from October 22.
British Airways became the tenth carrier to take delivery of an Airbus A380 in July 2013, the first of 12 super-jumbos that it has on order. The airline has further deliveries due in August and October next year.
BA has configured its A380s to accommodate 469 customers across four cabins. The layout features 14 seats in First on the main deck, followed by 44 Club World seats in a 2-4-2 configuration, then 199 World Traveller economy seats in a 3-4-3 layout. The upper deck will have a further 53 Club World seats in a new 2-3-2 layout, followed by 55 World Traveller Plus seats also configured 2-3-2, and then 104 World Traveller seats in a 2-4-2 layout.
British Airways’ new A380 superjumbo was on display last Saturday, flying in formation with the Red Arrows. The unique flyover was part of the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
