British Airways has ordered an Airbus A380 full flight simulator from Thales. The airline said its senior training captains have carried out "a rigorous technical evaluation", and that Thales UK has committed to work with BA to meet its training delivery schedules.
The simulator is to be delivered to the BA Flight Training Centre at Cranebank near Heathrow Airport in January 2013, and will initially be used to provide training for BA pilots and aircrew in preparation for the arrival of the first of BA's A380s later that year.
Marion Broughton, head of Thales UK's avionics, training and simulation business, said: "The selection of Thales to supply its A380 full-flight simulator represents another major step in building our long-term relationship with BA." The manufacturer said the simulator will be built at Thales UK's Crawley plant and will meet the latest Airbus A380 standard at the time of delivery.
Thales also supplies BA with TopSeries inflight entertainment systems, and various avionics systems.