Since its reintroduction to regular service following the Covid Pandemic, British Airways’s A380 fleet is certainly not sitting idle, with services that have seen the type including New York, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Dubai, Singapore, and Johannesburg. Of these, Johannesburg is the second-longest and most far-flung, beijg located way at the tip of Africa, the second most southerly non-stop destination for British Airways after Cape Town.
Server: Solo
Airline: British Airways
Aircraft: Airbus A380-800
Origin: Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom (LHR)
Destination: O.R. Tambo International Airport, Kempton Park, South Africa (JNB)
Flight Number: BA57
Route: EGLL-FAOR
Seat: 4K (First Class)
Time En Route: 10 Hours 54 Minutes
Settling into our first-class seat aboard G-XLEE, an 11.1 year-old A380. From our intial impressions, it looks like it’ll be a comfortable ride down to Johannesburg.
“Speedbird 57 Super Heavy, departing, have a nice night”
Climbout over the English Channel
Cruising over the French Alps…
…and the Mediterranean
The morning finds us over northern Congo
Initial descent over the Namib Desert
Final descent
Landing in J-Burg a few minutes ahead of schedule
Leaving the aircraft, we take one last look across the field. Overall, it was an extremely comfortable flight with excellent service.