Emirates received its 123rd Airbus A380 on December 16, bringing an end to the 16-year and 251-strong production run for the superjumbo.
The handover of A6-EVS (c/n 272) took place at the airframer’s Hamburg/Finkenwerder facility. After all the festivities were complete on the ground, the jet departed for Dubai, but instead of routing southeast after take-off, it first conducted a low flyby of the airport and then surprisingly, flew off towards the UK.
The quadjet’s routing took it north from Hamburg and out into the North Sea around Sylt Airport on the country’s border with Denmark. Victor Sierra then turned southbound and entered UK airspace near TIPAN waypoint.
