British Airways' A380 is making its first long-haul flight to Los Angeles today.
Flight BA269 took-off 15 minutes late from London Heathrow at 1630 and is scheduled to arrive at LAX at 1923 local time.
Former Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm and singer Matt Cardle performed live in Terminal 5 to passengers on the inaugural service ahead of the flight's departure.
BA's superjumbo is the first and currently only A380 aircraft to operate between London and Los Angeles.
It will initially operate as a five-weekly service, but will increase to double-daily flights from April 10 next year.
BA has next rostered the superjumbo onto its Hong Kong route, where it will fly daily from October 22.
And, from February 2014, an A380 will be deployed on BA's Heathrow to Johannesburg route (see news, July 24).
It will initially operate three times per week when it launches on February 12. This will increase to six flights per week from March 10.
The A380 flights will be incorporated into BA's normal schedule to the city.
The airline took delivery of its A380 at Heathrow in July (see news, July 4).
It has configured its A380s to accommodate 469 customers across four cabins. Customers in First will be seated at the front of the main deck in a 14-seat cabin.
Club World customers can choose from 44 seats on the main deck, or 53 seats on the upper deck. These upper deck seats will feature a new 2:3:2 configuration across the cabin.
The 55 World Traveller Plus seats will be located on the upper deck while World Traveller customers can choose seats on both the main and upper deck.
On Sunday, BA flew its inaugural flight to Chengdu (see news, September 23).
Graham Smith
