During the late night hours of December 10th to 13th, a convoy wound its way through the French Countryside from Langon to Toulouse. On board the slow moving industrial parade were the wings, horizontal stabilizer, front, center and aft fuselage sections of an Airbus A380.
Speculation about the identity of this convoy points to it potentially as the first Airbus A380 for Air France. If confirmed, the aircraft would be MSN033 which is expected to wear the final registration F-HPJA following its flight testing and preparation for entry into service.
When contacted for confirmation, Airbus declined to disclose the identity of the unidentified A380.
Air France would join Singapore Airlines, Emirates and QANTAS as the fourth airline with an A380 under assembly in Toulouse.
Air France’s first A380, which is slated for delivery in 2009, will be powered by four Engine Alliance GP7200, which received official certification earlier this month.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.