All Nippon Airways A380 completes maiden flight

 The first A380 for  (ANA) took to the skies today, completing a maiden flight from the final assembly line in Toulouse, France to the Airbus site in Hamburg, Germany.

The aircraft is now being prepared for cabin installation and painting in the airline’s special A380 livery.

ANA placed a firm order of three A380s in 2016, becoming the first customer for the superjumbo in Japan.

The first delivery is scheduled early in 2019, and the A380 will initially be operated on the popular Tokyo-Honolulu route.

The three A380’s will be painted in a special livery with ANA creating a ‘Flying Honu’ character for each aircraft.

The blue character is named ―Lani, meaning sky, a homage to the Hawaiian blue sky.

The emerald green character is named ―Kai,meaning ocean, and inspired by the crystal clear waters of the Hawaiian ocean and the orange character is named ―Lā,‖ from the Hawaiian word meaning sun s a reference to the beautiful Hawaiian sunset..

To date, Airbus has delivered 229 A380s, with the aircraft now in services with 14 airlines worldwide.