Did you know that the Antonov An-124 Ruslan was the largest airplane ever mass-produced until production of the Airbus A380 started? During development it was known as the An-400 and An-40 in the West, and it flew for the first time in 1982. Ironically, it's an Antonov An-124 freighter operated by Russia's Polet that transported the new Emirates A380 gateway model to Heathrow Airport, London. The model has been built by California-based Penwal Industries, arrived in an in early July. The aircraft will occupy the prominent position north of runway 09L/27R. this is the same site where once the one-third scale model of the British Airways Concorde stood.

Emirates will take delivery of its first A380 on 28 July, an event which Flight will be covering from Hamburg and Dubai. It will put the aircraft into service on 1 August.

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