Final assembly of first Malaysia Airlines A380 starts

On June 7th, the first A380 for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) entered the Airbus Final Assembly Line in Toulouse for the final production phase. The final assembly process of an A380 is made up of five main phases. At the first station, front, central, and aft fuselages, wings, Horizontal and Vertical Tail Plane (HTP and VTP) are assembled. The aircraft is then moved to the second station where general tests on electric/hydraulic systems, mobile parts and landing gears are carried out while engines are also installed. During the third phase, final ground and first engines tests take place in dedicated facilities outside of the main building. Finally, the aircraft is ready for its first flight to Hamburg, Germany, where the A380 will receive its cabin and will be painted to MAS livery. Malaysia Airlines has six A380s on order with deliveries due to begin in 2012.