The opening public day of the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) included an opportunity to see the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows aerobatic display team perform two flypasts with British Airways' first Airbus A380 superjumbo.

 Red Arrows BA A380 - Craig Hoyle

Craig Hoyle/Flightglobal

BA formally took delivery of its first of 12 A380s on 4 July, and is now performing crew training from Manston airport in Kent. The airline will begin using the type on a short-haul route between London and Frankfurt, Germany, before putting it into full revenue service during September. Its configuration sees the airliner equipped with 469 seats.

 Reds BA A380 - RIAT

RIAT

The combination was among the highlights on show at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on 20 July, which also included displays by Avro Vulcan XH558, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and numerous fast jets such as the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, RAC MiG-29 and Saab Gripen.

A Red Arrows display to be performed over RIAT on 21 July will see the team's BAE Systems Hawk T1s flown in formation with Airbus Military A400M "Grizzly 5".

Source: FlightGlobal.com